


Arrangement

by vanessa_cardui



Category: Original Work
Genre: BDSM, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Conditioning, F/F, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Multi, Psychological Horror, Slow Burn, Total Power Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 10:56:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 99,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7265254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanessa_cardui/pseuds/vanessa_cardui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maddie laughed.  "Why not?  You're interested in being tied up, I'm interested in tying people up, neither of us are seeing anyone, unless something's changed in the last week and a half.  It'd be fun."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was a pretty good party. The music wasn't that loud, because Ronan had gotten in trouble for loud music the last time he'd thrown a party. And Samantha knew enough people there that she wasn't actually spending the whole time sitting in a corner and not talking--Han'd button-holed her for like a half hour to complain about work, and then Lucy had spent a half hour complaining about Han. And Rania was there, and she hadn't seen her for weeks, and Mark had pictures of his new puppy.

It was worth coming out. Generally, Samantha found herself regretting going to parties about twenty minutes after showing up. This time, it'd probably take until she discovered that she'd crossed the line from 'enough tequila' to 'too much tequila.'

Or maybe a little sooner than that. Maddie sat down next to her, and Samantha liked Maddie, but she definitely didn't trust that smile on her face.

Then Maddie passed her a laptop. Her laptop, the one she'd lost a month ago.

"Oh my God!" said Samantha. "How?"

"Zack cleaned his car," she said. "Turns out that there were a lot of things there."

"That does explain the smell," said Samantha. She’d been cradling the computer, but now she moved it to the coffee table.

"And some of the stains," said Maddie. "Speaking of which . . . there is a thing called 'browser history.'"

Samantha went red, and then purple, and she'd have gone to whatever color meant 'mad as hell' if Maddie hadn't put her hand on Samantha's shoulder.

"Yeah, that wasn't one hundred percent okay, but here's the deal. You're interested in that BDSM stuff, right? And since you're straight, and there were a lot of tied-up girls there, you're interested more in being done to you than doing it to people, right?"

Still mad, but way, way more embarrassed than mad. Everyone else was more or less talking to each other, but the music wasn't loud, and Maddie wasn't making any effort to be quiet.

"Maddie!" Samantha was blushing so hard that she was feeling light-headed. "What do you want?"

"To tie you up," said Maddie. "These macarons are great--you should have one."

"What? No. What? Why? No."

Maddie laughed. "What, are you on a gluten-free thing? And why not? You're interested in being tied up, I'm interested in tying people up, neither of us are seeing anyone, unless something's changed in the last week and a half. It'd be fun."

"Right, but--" Samantha looked around. Nobody was obviously looking at them, but there were at least one or two sidelong looks. Probably because she was as red as a beet, but whatever--that wasn't the point. "The point is, like you said, I'm straight. And so are you? I mean--"

"It doesn't have to be like that," said Maddie. "I mean, I do want you to be undressed, and I am kind of interested in the intersection of BDSM and sex, but . . . okay. So, I'm straight, and you're straight, but in both cases, that's kind of theoretical--you broke up with Ismail in junior year, and haven't gone on more than two dates with anyone since. And I haven't . . . it'd be fun!"

"Also you looked at my browser history!"

"Yeah, well. Honestly, wouldn't you?"

"No," said Samantha. "Because that's incredibly rude and intrusive."

"Which is just part of why you want to be tied up, and I want to tie people up," said Maddie. "Look, whatever. Lisa nighthawks every Tuesday, so we could have privacy, and I keep buying shit I never get a chance to use. Think about it. I'll meet you for lunch tomorrow, and you'll let me know then, okay? I've got to talk to Han, and . . . anyhow. Tomorrow lunch, okay?"

"Sure?" said Samantha, who wasn't even a little sure.

And then came more tequila, to calm her down, and then a few shots of some godawful peach schnapps that Rania had brought from Hungary, and then a wobbly Uber ride back out to Inwood.

Work sucked, because that was what work did, and then Maddie sent her a text fifteen minutes before lunch, reminding her of their date. Date? Not a date--lunch. Only there wasn't enough time to come up with some sort of excuse, and . . . well, Samantha was straight. Honest. But Maddie was cute, maybe? Too many ridiculous hats, but she had a lot of freckles, which were cute, and she was a redhead, which was . . .

What the hell was she thinking?

She was thinking that Ismail had been way too appalled by the fact that he was actually having sex to even suggest that he tie her up, and before that Leo had been willing to get a little rough, but not what she wanted, and even if it wasn't exactly what she was looking for, there was all sorts of stuff that she wanted to try, regardless of who was doing it to her.

Maybe. Probably not. It was stupid to think about. This was crazy.

Maddie was wearing a ridiculous hat, and an NYU sweatshirt, because she went to a better school than everyone else, and that was getting less important, and. . .

"So here's the thing," said Maddie, after they got their blintzes and pierogies.

"Where? What thing?"

"We'll start with a few simple things tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night!"

People looked at her; Samantha sank back into her jacket.

Maddie shrugged. "Why not? Look, we'll try it once. If you like it, great, if not, we'll either try something else next time, or, if you really didn't like it, we'll give up."

"But. . ."

"Come on," said Maddie, with a hint of a whine. "I am going to be so good at this, and you'll be great. And it's what you want."

"Try it once?" said Samantha.

"Absolutely," said Maddie. "And simple stuff. Restraints, and teasing, and then an orgasm."

The tips of Samantha's ears were on fire.

"That sounds kind of good," she said.

"I know." Maddie checked her watch. "Right. I have to eat really fast at this point, and these are good."

"Not as good as the Kiev used to be," said Samantha, because they weren't.

"Snob," said Maddie, through a mouthful of pierogies.

"Rube," Samantha replied.

"Oh, and also," said Maddie. "Be shaved. Or waxed, or whatever."

"Um."

"Shaved everywhere, I mean," said Maddie. "Not a hundred percent familiar with the bits involved, at least on someone else. Make life easier if I can see things."

"I . . ."

"Just do it."

Samantha swallowed a mouthful of blintzes, which weren't nearly as good as the Kiev's had been, and nodded. Maddie smiled at her, and that was it. They talked a little bit about work--Samantha had to re-copy-edit a terrible book that had been terribly copy-edited, and Maddie had to get the client to define exactly what they wanted her to do, and they kept throwing out buzzwords rather than actually giving her numbers about employee retention, or whatever it was that they actually wanted.

Then Samantha went back, and sort of sleep-walked through her afternoon. The book was completely preposterous, and there were spelling errors and continuity errors, so it didn't so much matter that she kept looking over the same page, because she kept finding new problems.

Tuesday was worse. And it felt a little weird to be shaved, and it was . . . it was all a big mistake, and kind of ridiculous, and she was checking her phone every five minutes to find out how much time had passed, and whether or not there was a text calling everything off, and . . . and nothing.

So, after work, Samantha took a quick shower, got on the train, and headed out to Maddie's.

It could be that when she got there, they'd talk about it, and they'd agree that this was crazy, and nothing would happen. And yet. And yet. Maddie hadn't been wrong--Samantha was way into that sort of stuff, and there just wasn't anyone else who'd even offered to give it a try.

Problem was, there were like a million different things that 'that BDSM stuff' could mean, and Maddie was probably interested in the parts that Samantha wasn't interested in, and it'd all go terribly and it'd be super awkward afterwards.

And Samantha was sure that everyone else on the 1 train could see what she was headed out to do. They could probably smell what she was headed out to do. She'd known Maddie for a long time. She trusted Maddie. But she wasn't in love with Maddie, not even a little. And she was straight. This was nothing but sex--nothing but a very specific sort of sex, and that made it a ton weirder.

She was just going to apologize for leading Maddie on, and then she'd go home, and it was going to be . . . no. No, she was going to do it, unless Maddie had changed her mind, which she might have, because it was crazy.

Samantha knocked on Maddie's door, and she let her in with a smile. Samatha'd kind of dressed for a date, with a short-ish skirt, and low-cut blouse, and Maddie looked like she was dressed for a night at home. Sweats and no makeup, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Hey," said Maddie. "Guess I wasn't entirely sure if you were going to show up. Lemme get you a cup of tea or something, and we can talk about what sort of things you want to do, and . . ."

She looked at Samantha, who wanted to melt through the floor.

"Or," she said, and picked something up off the table, and gave it to Samantha. Red rubber ball, lots of leather straps. "You can put this on, and get undressed, and then I'll do the sort of things that I want to do, and you don't have to talk about anything?"

"That seems like a bad idea," said Samantha. "But that's basically what I want to do."

"Heh," said Maddie. "Okay, compromise. No gag, but we'll just start off doing the sort of things that I want to do."

"Yeah," said Samanatha. "Okay."

"Deal," said Maddie. "You go ahead to my room and get undressed--whether or not you want any, I'd like a nice cup of tea."

"Um," said Samantha.

Maddie raised an eyebrow.

"It's just that . . . is there a thing I should call you, or do you want to use safewords, or--"

Maddie gave a thoughtful scowl. "No," she said, finally. "I mean, it's an interesting idea, but I'm more interested in the substance of power than the . . . I don't know. It's just that being called 'mistress' or 'domina' or whatever sounds kind of stupid. And if you want a safeword, sure, but I don't think we'll be doing anything where you won't be able to make it clear that you're not interested in doing things?"

"Right," said Samantha. "Okay."

Her hands were in front of her, and she was twisting them together. Maddie took them in hers, held them tight. "It'll be okay. Relax! This is just . . . it's just a thing that we want to do, right?"

"Right," said Samantha.

"You'll do great."

She nodded, and went to Maddie's room. Which was a good-sized room--seemed like being an industrial psychologist paid a lot better than being an assistant editor. And the bed looked comfy--big and soft and a warm-looking duvet.

It was really, really strange getting undressed in Maddie's room, knowing that her friend was going to be, well, fucking her. Also, it seemed like wearing nice underwear had been kind of unnecessary? She folded everything up, left it on the chair by the desk, and that looked ridiculous too, with her shoes next to each other and . . . and how long did it take to make a cup of tea?

When Maddie finally came in, with an oversized mug, Samantha stood facing her, hands at her sides, toes clenching and unclenching in the carpet.

"Good," said Maddie, and Samantha blushed.

"Actually, before we get started--"

"We're not started?"

Maddie laughed. "Before I get started, then. Do you mind if I take a video?"

"Uh."

"No--listen, this is just for me. It's . . . right. One of the reasons that I'm into this is because of how it relates to my work. Or, more accurately, one of the reasons why I went into psychology is because I'm into kink. And having a video record will let me see what I've been doing, and what your responses are, and . . . tell you what. Not today. Once we've been doing this for a little bit, and you're used to it, and trust me?"

Samantha considered. "Fact is, I'm already trusting you. I mean, you could just put a blindfold on me, and take whatever videos you want. So, I guess. . . but if your phone gets hacked, or whatever--"

"Not going to use my phone," Maddie laughed. "And I had to do a whole course on data security to get accreditation. It's just for me. I mean, and you, if you want it, but we'd have to go over your data security before I actually send you copies; your laptop wasn't exactly well-protected."

"So, okay," said Samantha.

"Good," said Maddie. "Oh, here--put these on."

These were cuffs. For her wrists and ankles.

Samantha had been turned on the whole damn time, but this pushed it up a whole nother level. She was straight, and Maddie wasn't making any effort to look pretty, but the fact was this stuff turned her on, and it almost didn't matter who was doing it.

The cuffs were leather, with metal rings on the sides--four on each cuff. Getting the buckles right was a little complicated, because it was hard to buckle things with one hand. Then she tried to put them on her ankles while standing, and that wasn't easy either, and she was definitely looking awkward and stupid.

Maddie wasn't watching, though. She was adjusting a tripod for her camera, aiming it at the bed, and making sure that it was at the right distance and height and so on.

Samantha was ready before Maddie, so she stood there and waited, toes twisting in the carpet. It was something else, really. One last, long look at her pile of clothing, and then Maddie gestured toward the bed.

Samantha got on the bed, and waited.

"Okay, so before we get started," said Maddie, "I want a baseline. When you masturbate, do you use toys, as a rule?"

Samantha gave a squeak, and Maddie grinned. "Yeah, okay," she said. "No talking, right? Fine. Let's see what you do when you want to get yourself off, and you don't have any toys handy."

This wasn't what Maddie had said that she was going to do.

"I know," said Maddie. "Don't worry. Have you heard of edging?"

Samantha shook her head.

"That's basically my favorite thing," said Maddie. "So here's how it goes--you get close to orgasm, but don't come. And this is how we're going to start each session for a while. It's . . . point is, this set-up, you do what I tell you to do, and right now, I'm telling you to play with yourself."

So Samantha lay down on the bed, and closed her eyes, and started playing with herself.

It was ridiculous, but even though she was dripping wet, she didn't want to touch inside her cunt, so she wet her fingers in her mouth, and then started rubbing her clit, lightly.

Only she was wearing cuffs on her wrists and ankles, and there was a camera on her, and she was naked and Maddie was watching, and maybe this wasn't exactly what she'd expected to do, but it was the sort of thing that she enjoyed.

When her fingers got too dry to be entirely comfortable, she pushed the two she was using inside herself, gathered moisture between them, and moved them up over her clit.

She moaned, a little, then blushed, and then moaned again. She was getting closer, moaning without noticing it. She was going to get tied up, and--

 

And she stopped, because she was supposed to stop before she finished, and if she went a little longer than that, she would've finished.

"Very nice," said Maddie, and she took Samantha's wrist, firmly, pulled it up to the corner of the bed, and attached one of the rings on the cuff to a strap that Samantha had noticed on the bed, but hadn't really understood.

The other wrist went to the opposite corner. Samantha pulled against them, and was satisfied by how little give there was in that strap.

Then Maddie pulled one of her ankles over, and that was somehow more intimate and frightening than her wrists. But Samantha let her do it, her breath coming a little short as the other ankle was moved into position, spreading her legs apart.

"Eyes closed, huh?" said Maddie. "Well, fair enough. Need a blindfold?"

Samantha considered, then gave a quick nod.

It didn't take too long for Maddie to find one. She had to hold Samantha's head up, and then she tied a scarf around Samantha's face, with the knot at the side, so that she could lie comfortably on her back.

Once it was on, Samantha did relax a little. It was still Maddie; she could still feel her weight on the bed next to her. But it was a little distant, maybe?

And then that relaxation was gone, because Maddie was playing with pussy, pulling her labia apart gently, running her fingers along the soft skin.

"We're going to try a little pain next," said Maddie. "Okay?"

Samantha bit her lip, nodded.

"Brave," said Maddie. "Excellent. If it's too much, let me know, okay? I can't read your mind."

Another, more hesitant nod.

There was a prickle at her collarbone--little needles pushing in, not quite hard enough to break the skin. They moved down, across her breast, and Samantha gasped, bit her lip.

She gasped again when Maddie pinched her nipple and twisted.

If it went on just a little bit longer, she'd--

"Sensitive," said Maddie. "Interesting."

Then those needles started moving again, across her ribs, and Samantha tried to get out of the way, giggling--it tickled! But then it went lower, down to her hip, and the giggles became gasps, because while it still hurt, it was also . . . something else.

"Good," said Maddie. The needles continued to move, down to her thighs--Samantha tried to close them, involuntarily, but she couldn't--they were held apart. But it hurt more than teased, and then when it moved up onto her pussy, Samantha jerked away, and made a little noise that was basically a quiet shriek.

"Too much?" asked Maddie, withdrawing the needle-thing.

Samantha hesitated, then nodded. She probably could take it, but--

"Good," said Maddie. "Next, flogger."

Samantha knew what those were--she'd seen any number of pictures. It didn't feel exactly like she'd expected--it was a bigger feeling? Also the first one went across her breasts, and that hurt more than she expected. But it was also . . . it was also a little nice, actually.

Breasts and then thighs, and then lightly across her pussy, and then less lightly across her pussy, and that was too much, so she shrieked again.

Then across her breasts, a little harder, until she made that noise.

"I see you've found your safe-word," said Maddie. "Safe noise? Anyhow. Anything in particular you wanted to try?"

There were things. Lots of things. For one thing, she wanted to feel that flogger on her butt, or maybe her back, but . . .

"Well, maybe you'll feel like talking a little later. Next."

Next hurt like anything--first one nipple, then the other. It was cold, and pinched hard, and Samantha yelped and twisted, and was already breathing hard.

Maddie put her hand on Samantha's cheek, ran a thumb under the bottom of Samantha's eye. "Yeah," she said. "I know. But try to hold on, as long as you can."

Samantha whimpered, shook her head. It could've stopped--she could've told Maddie to take them off, and she would've, and it would've stopped.

But this was . . . she shook, trying to get them off. She didn't like it, but she didn't want to wimp out, and it hurt, and Maddie's fingers were running along the side of her breast, and that was weird, and it hurt, and--

"Please?" said Samantha. "Please take them off?"

Maddie did, and it hurt almost as much as it had when Maddie had put them on, and there were tears welling up at the corners of Samantha's eyes.

"Shh," said Maddie. "It's okay. Thank you. That was great, and you're done with that, and that's it for pain today."

The hand on her cheek, and that thumb across, just under her eye. "That was great," breathed Maddie. "But okay. I'm going to take the blindfold off, now--"

And she did, and Samantha blinked in the light, looking up at Maddie, who was looking interested and pleased and not at all turned on, which wasn't . . . Samantha was turned on. She'd been more turned on before those clips on her nipples, but she was still into it, and it didn't look like Maddie was.

"Little more edging," said Maddie. "Like I said, it's my favorite. And since this isn't something you've done a lot of, I want you to be a little cautious? So, like, let me know when you're even a little close, okay? And if you lose it, that's not too bad, but I'd rather you came when I wanted?"

That was a lot of statements that were sort of questions. Samantha wasn't sure about any of it, but she nodded, and then Maddie gave her a half-wink, and got out a magic-wand style vibrator, and settled it in on Samantha's pussy, pushed up against her clit.

"It's got a dimmer switch," said Maddie. "Not going to hit you with the full strength just yet."

Whatever strength it was on was really strong--a lot stronger than any of Samantha's vibrators. She made a happy little noise without really thinking about it, and moved her hips into it.

"Nice," said Maddie. "Okay." She turned it off, and then did something complicated with a length of rope, to hold it in place. Then it went back on again.

It didn't take long before Samatha was twisting, trying to get just a little more pressure. And then she remembered. "I'm, um--"

The vibrator shut off. "Next time, just say close. Or grunt--if we're going to use gags, you're going to need a way to signal that even when you can't talk. Two grunts, one after the other will mean you're close. Okay?"

"Sure," said Samantha. Then the thing went on again, and she breathed in, tried to make it last before she had to stop it.

Maddie was sitting next to her, cross-legged, and she had a yellow notebook out, and was writing something down. Then she looked over at Samantha, and ran a finger along her hip. Samantha bucked, and grunted twice. Maddie shut the vibrator off, made another note.

It went on for an hour. Maddie would let Samantha get close, test her reaction to different things, and give her a little time to breathe each time she shut the vibrator off.

Then she started giving her less and less time to recover, until it was on for a few seconds, and then off for a few seconds, and then on, and Samantha could barely tell what was happening.

And then Maddie didn't turn it off when Samantha let her know she was close. "Go ahead," she said, and it was just about the biggest orgasm she had ever had, thrashing against those cuffs and straps.

When she was done, Maddie unhooked the cuffs from the straps, but didn't take them off.

"See?" said Maddie. "Pretty good, huh?"

"Yeah," said Samantha. "Thanks?"

Maddie gave a short giggle. "You're welcome. Imma order some food--Chinese okay?"

"Sure," said Samantha. She held up her wrist. "Should I, um--"

"No," said Maddie. "I mean, I'd rather not. This is the sort of thing I like. If you need to get dressed, fine, but I'd really rather you stayed like this for a little while."

Samantha considered. She was wrung out and floaty and the whole weirdness was weirder without that. On the other hand, it wasn't like Maddie had gotten off or anything--she hadn't even gotten undressed. "Yeah okay," she said, and pulled one of the pillows over. 

She was half asleep as Maddie ordered dinner, and then shut down the whole video setup and checked files and in general fiddled with stuff.

Samantha woke up when the food was there. It smelled good, and she was really, really hungry, and this wasn't like one of those dates where she had to pretend not to want to eat, because they knew each other already, and also they were already done with the sex, or at least Samantha was done, and also they weren't dating.

But she was also undressed, and wearing bondage gear on her wrists and ankles, which made the conversation a little odd. They talked a little bit about their friends--they were both going to Rania's book launch on Thursday--and about the news, but Samantha found herself not starting topics, and just waiting for Maddie to say something. Which Maddie seemed to enjoy, there was a twinkle in her eye, as the conversation went on.

"So," she said, after one of those silences. "Have a good time?"

"Yes," said Samantha. "Obviously."

Maddie shrugged. "You came. Doesn't mean that this was what you were hoping for."

Samantha blushed, looked away. "It was pretty great," she said.

"Good," said Maddie. "So what didn't you like?"

"The nipple clamps," said Samantha, quickly. "And also . . . I mean, it was great, but you didn't seem into it? I just . . . did you have a good time?"

"Not the same sort of good time you had," said Maddie. "But absolutely. We did exactly what I wanted to do, exactly the way I wanted to do it."

"So you don't want to have sex?" asked Samantha.

Maddie shrugged again. "I might wind up using a sub for sex," said Maddie. "I mean, I probably will; there's reasons for that which I. . . point is, if we keep doing this, I probably will wind up using you for sex. But that's not the main thing that I'm interested in, and . . . okay. Do you want to keep doing this?"

"Yes," said Samantha.

"Good. Only the thing is. . . well, first of all, it's not going to be exactly the same thing, because that'd get boring."

"Sure," said Samantha.

"And also, okay. What I'm really interested in is the substance of power, and for me, that involves doing some conditioning, and making you want the things that I want you to want. Like those nipple clamps, right? You don't like them, but I think they're fun and pretty. So I'll do things like put them on you right before you're going to come, or when you get a drink of water, or something like that, so that you wind up associating them with something pleasurable, and maybe it'll get to the point where you can't come without them on."

Samantha shook her head. "I don't think that's going to work. They hurt, and it's distracting, and--"

"Leave the psychology side of things to me," said Maddie. "Let's just focus on the ethics here. If it doesn't work, okay, no problem. But if it does work, you told me to take them off, and I took them off, because you didn't want them. But if I make you want them on, it's sort of . . . you didn't want them, and now they're on, even though you told me you didn't like them."

"I followed like 10% of that," said Samantha.

"Fair enough," said Maddie. "Let me put it this way. Starting next time, I'm going to start making you like things that you don't like. Are you okay with that?"

"If I wind up liking it, then I like it," said Samantha. "And if I don't--"

"If you don't like something that I do, you can always tell me to stop. Always."

"Sounds good," said Samantha. She broke her fortune cookie open. 'A friend asks only for your time, not for your money,' it said. She giggled, and showed it to Maddie.

"That is absolutely what I'm asking for," said Maddie. Hers said, 'you are very talented in many ways.'

"In bed," said Samantha. "Confirmed."

"Thank you," said Maddie. "Also, here's the thing--you can just show up after work next week. You aren't going to be spending much time dressed, and I don't want to have to wait for you to schlep all the way out to Inwood and then back down here."

"But shower?" said Samantha.

"You can shower here," said Maddie. "And if you want, you can stay overnight--that'd give us a little more time for play."

"I . . . maybe after a while?"

"Right," said Maddie. "Sorry, it's just I had fun and want more fun. It's up to you. But you seriously don't need to add an hour of commuting to this at night and then again in the morning."

"Thanks?" said Samantha. She hesitated, and the added, "Although, if you want more fun now, it's not that late."

"Greedy," said Maddie. "And no. I mean, this was great, and I have video to review, and then a plan to come up with and there's like a thousand and one things I want to do, and I need to get everything organised, so it'll happen in the order I want, and. Basically, if you want to hang out and watch something, that's fine, but I've got to make sure I'll have everything planned right for next time. If you're going to be staying over, maybe email? Because that'll mean a different sort of planning."

"You're a little frightening," said Samantha. Maddie looked at her, and Samantha looked away. "And yeah, that's kinda hot. But I'm probably not going to stay over, and if there isn't more fun happening, I've got a clear head for the first time in a while, so I should probably use that for editing terrible copy."

"Sure," said Maddie. "Oh, and--you can keep those cuffs. Just make sure to bring them when you come over? I mean, if you decide to break things off, at least you have some free gear for the next time you get someone to try it."

"Thanks?" said Samantha. "I mean, thanks."

And that was basically it. She got dressed, which was a little awkward, and her panties were still a little wet, which was also awkward, and she was 100% sure that everyone on the train could tell what was making her laptop bag all bulgy on the way back to her apartment, which was super awkward.

But Rania's book launch wasn't awkward--they were still friends, and they still had a lot to talk about, and the book wasn't bad either, which was what Samantha had been worrying about, because it was being published by some small house she'd never heard of. There were a few more beardos than was strictly ideal, but they didn't cause much trouble, and one of them was kind of nice, but . . . but she'd been on a thousand first dates with guys like that, and she wasn't in the mood to try again.

Instead, next week, she was at Maddie's on Tuesday night, right after work.


	2. Chapter 2

"Have you got the cuffs?" Maddie asked, when Samantha came in.

"Yeah," said Samantha. "Do you want me to put them on, or--"

"Shower first," said Maddie. "Make sure you're thoroughly dried off before you put them on. They're leather, and I want them to last a while, so try not to get them wet."

"Right." Samantha headed for the bathroom. It was a lot less weird to get undressed in a bathroom, anyway.

It was always a little strange using someone else's shower. It took Samantha a couple of tries to figure out how to turn on the faucet and how to adjust the temperature. At least she didn’t have to figure out what soap and shampoo and stuff to use--Maddie had left her with one bar of soap on the side of the tub, one bottle of shampoo, one bottle of conditioner, a bottle of men's shaving cream, and a razor. And that was it. The rest of it was up on top of the medicine cabinet.

It was all new, also. Not bad. Not the sort of thing that she usually used, but not bad--a little more strongly-scented than what she'd have bought for herself. The shaving cream was better than anything that she'd tried, anyway, and it was a good razor.

Samantha didn't linger. Washed and shaved and rinsed and then dried off and put the cuffs on. A quick look in the mirror, and a shiver, seeing herself like that. No makeup, no anything, except the bulky leather cuffs, but those . . . it was a look, anyway.

Maddie was drinking tea at the table, with a bunch of papers spread out around her, when Samantha came out. "We'll start with positions today," said Maddie, giving Samantha a smile. "Kneel."

Samantha knelt, feeling heat pooling in her lower belly.

"Legs apart," she said. "Mmm. No, not that far--this is how I'll be keeping you for a while, so I don't want you straining. Like that. Hands behind your head. Good."

She patted Samantha's head, then her cheek. "It'll be a while before you're comfortable like that, but at least for a while, when you're like that, I won't be hurting you. So you'll get there."

Samantha wasn't sure how she felt about that. And the fact was, it did hurt a little. Her arms hurt from having to hold the position, and her knees on the floor hurt, and Maddie mostly wasn't paying attention to her. Occasionally, though, she'd pat her head, or her cheek, or run a finger along her cheekline, or her lips, and that made her shiver.

"There," said Maddie, after a while. "See, when you're here early, you can help me work. Recommendations complete. Or at least, this draft is complete. We'll see if those idiots turn out to want something else, but whatever. Up."

Samantha rose unsteadily, knees aching, and then Maddie moved behind her, holding a riding crop. "And since you're not kneeling, this is going to hurt a little."

Samantha leaned forward, resting on the table and biting her lip.

Maddie laughed. "And I take it you want me to hit your butt."

"Please?" said Samantha.

Maddie ran her hand across Samantha's ass, and Samantha shuddered again, breathing irregular.

"I see," said Maddie. "Well, we can do something you like for a bit."

It hurt. It hurt a lot, a white-hot sting, and then a bloom of pain around it. It didn't take long before her legs were fidgeting and she was gasping after each strike. It hurt more than she'd thought it would, but it was also . . . yeah, that was sort of the thing that she wanted.

"Straighten up," said Maddie.

Samantha did, and Maddie ran the crop over her breasts. Samantha gave a half nod, closed her eyes. It was going to hurt, and it did. But between the strikes, Maddie would sort of caress her with the crop, and that was great, and confusing. By the time Maddie stopped, Samantha was panting and there were tears at the corners of her eyes, and she wanted her to stop, but she also wanted her to never stop.

"Very nice," said Maddie. "Okay, you can go to the bedroom. I'm going to check if the cameras here worked right, and then set them up there."

"Cameras?"

Maddie pointed with the crop. One up on top of the cabinet, another one on the tripod next to the door. How she'd missed that . . . well, she'd been distracted.

"Oh."

"And bedroom, Samantha."

She went, and stood in the same place where she'd stood last time. This time her clothing wasn't sitting folded on the chair, which made it a little less awkward. Still, it had been sort of comforting when it was there. The clothing had been a reminder that she could leave whenever she wanted. Which she didn't want to do, and it wasn't as though she couldn't go to another room and get her clothing, but, anyway.

"Good," said Maddie, when she came in. "When I tell you to go somewhere, and I'm not there, you should wait just like that. You're a natural, Samantha."

"Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," said Maddie, and she set up the camera on the tripod again, checked what it was looking at. "Up on the bed, and masturbate almost to the point of orgasm again."

It was a easier the second time, maybe? Because she'd had a while to get used to the idea that Maddie was going to be taping her doing things, and that this was one of the things that she was going to tape her doing.

And maybe she was a little more open? She gathered up some of the moisture leaking from her cunt right away, and in addition to rubbing at her clit, letting it slide between her fingers, she would also dip her fingers into herself, and didn’t hold back from moaning and moving, and then she had to stop because she was too close.

"Good," said Maddie. "Excellent. And since you've been good, here's a little prize." She sat down at the edge of the bed, and patted her lap. "Here, you can lie down across my lap."

It took a little bit to work out how to do that without falling off. Then Maddie clipped the cuffs on Samantha's wrists together, behind her back, and the cuffs on her ankles together. "Perfect," said Maddie, when she was done. "And this is nice too," she added, kneading Samantha's ass. "Firm, but not too firm. Anyhow. Try to keep quiet."

One hand lifted. Samantha breathed in, tried to keep her legs from trembling.

Then it came down. Hard. It was a little hard to keep her balance, and not fall off Maddie's legs, and the bed, and at the same time, her hips were moving. She could feel the warmth of Maddie's legs under her, and the warmth of her hand, and the impact when she hit her--not as sharp as with the riding crop, but still with plenty of strength behind it.

Ten times, and then she stopped.

"Liked that?"

"Yeah," said Samantha. And then Maddie's fingers were between her legs, and she bit her lip, and curled in, and knew that no matter how embarrassed she might look, that was nowhere close to how embarrassed she felt.

But Maddie didn't laugh or jerk away or anything; just made a satisfied sort of noise. "Good," she said. "Okay, obviously wouldn't work for a punishment, but I think it's got potential for a reward."

She unhooked Samantha's wrists.

"Up," she said. Samantha got up, and then Maddie laid her out the way she'd been tied up the week before. More with the needle thing--a Wartenberg pinwheel, at least according to Samantha's googling--and more with the clamps. Only this time, what she did for a while was keep the clamps on when the vibrator was on, and off when the vibrator was off.

"Truth is," said Maddie, during one of the breaks, "an edging session is probably pleasurable enough on its own that I don't need to be that specific, but I figure, may as well make the associations absolutely clear early on. And then vary them--irregular reinforcement works . . ."

She trailed off, smiled down at Samantha. "Sorry," she said. "Talking to myself, really. One more session with the clamps, and then I'll put them away for a bit. Wouldn't want to overstimulate you like that. But they'll be on when you come."

There was one more session of that. And then there was more without the clips, just the vibrator switching on and off as Maddie sat next to her, making notes in her pad, or playing with her hair, or her breasts.

Once, when Maddie's fingers were trailing across her cheek, she turned towards her, mouth open, and Maddie put two fingers in her mouth. Samantha's lips closed, and she grunted twice. The vibrator went off.

"Hm," said Maddie. "Eyes closed, so it's not specifically about me--"

Samantha's eyes snapped open, but Maddie wasn't looking at her.

"Not a hundred percent sure how I feel about you being turned on by penetration, but that's the thing; it's so much easier when you work with a subject's natural inclinations than otherwise. I mean, Skinner got racoons to wash things and pigeons to peck things, not the other way around." A few more notes. "Deal," said Maddie. "We'll reinforce that a bit."

Then, later, when she was done with the edging, the clips went back on. Samantha's nipples were still sore from the last time that Maddie had been playing with those, and it hurt, and she didn't like it, but it also meant that she was going to come, so it didn't take quite as long from the time that the vibrator clicked on before she grunted twice.

And this time, instead of turning the vibrator off, Maddie put two fingers into Samantha's mouth. "Go ahead," she said, and Samantha did, sucking on Maddie's fingers and twisting in her bonds as she came, the pain from the clips sparking through all of that.

Maddie took the clips off of Samanatha's nipples when even the aftershocks from her orgasm were done, and that hurt worse, way worse than when they were on, because she wasn't into it anymore. But there was a fond smile from Maddie, and then she turned Samantha onto her side, clipped her wrists together and to the straps, and her ankles together and to the straps.

And then she took off her bra, and tucked it under Samantha's head.

"What?" asked Samantha.

Maddie shrugged. "Evidence for pheromone detection in humans isn't great. But at a minimum, you're feeling a little blissed out and floaty now, right?"

"Yeah," said Samantha. "If you're fishing for compliments--"

"Hush," said Maddie. "Point is, this way, you'll associate that feeling with the way I smell, and it'll be a sort of connection. Sort of thing I like doing. Anyway, you can nap for a little bit--I'll order out for pizza in an hour or so."

It wasn't exactly a request--she was tied to Maddie's bed, after all. But she was feeling a little blissed out and floaty, and it wasn't like the bra was particularly stinky or anything. So she fell asleep, and then Maddie woke her up for pizza, and for old movies on Netflix, and then it was time to go back home. Which was a bit of a let-down, honestly, and she didn't have to, and it would've been way less of a commute if she was . . .

Samantha didn't stay over at Maddie's the next week, when Maddie experimented with ice cubes and hot wax, which was pretty great. And the week after that, Samantha's cousin was getting married, so she couldn't make it out to Maddie's. But the week after that, she let her know that she was going to be staying overnight, if that was okay.

Turned out, it was okay. When she showed up, Maddie had a gift for her--a white leather collar, with a name-tag that said _Samantha._ "It's . . . um. So there are rules with this one."

"This one?" said Samantha. She'd put it on as soon as Maddie had given to her, and it felt pretty much right.

"This one," said Maddie. "Depending on how things go, there may be others. But for this one, if you put it on, you wear it the whole night, even if there are other people here."

"Um," said Samantha.

"I mean, it's not like there's a law compelling you to follow the rule--if you want to do something else, you can do something else. And I don't mean if like, my mom drops by for a visit or I have a heart attack or . . . it's just, at some point, I might want to show off the fact that I have a sub."

"Um," repeated Samantha, somewhat pointedly.

"Um indeed," said Maddie. "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to--we'll keep doing stuff, and it'll keep being fun. But if you do, that's part of the deal."

"Sounds fair," said Samantha, not able to meet Maddie's eye, and really turned on by the idea.

"Other than that, it means mostly what we've been doing until now--that when it comes to sex stuff, I'm going to make you do things, and that you're going to enjoy it. If I'm going to try something new, we'll talk about it, and if it's something you're not into, we'll put it off. But in general, if you're wearing that collar, you'll do what I tell you."

"What, like, if I wear it to a party or something?"

"Exactly like," said Maddie. "I mean, public stuff, or semi-public stuff, that's something new, and we'd talk about it first. But yeah, if you show up at a party wearing that, I might tell you to play with yourself under your skirt, or find an opportunity to kiss my shoe."

"Oh," said Samantha, and fingered the collar. Yeah, that was an interesting and frightening idea.

"But that's not for tonight. Bathe, shave, collars on, and then we'll record a nearly complete masturbation session. After that, I'm thinking we're going to work on finding some good negative stimuli for you. Wax made you a little too happy, and makes a mess. I've got hopes for electricity, though."

"Right," said Samantha, and scurried off to the bathroom. Her usual soap and so on. It put her into the right frame of mind, actually.

And it turned out that the electric shocks were the sort of negative stimulus that Maddie wanted. Or at least, that's what Maddie said--as far as Samantha was concerned, the electric shocks weren't actually that painful. They made her jump, but they didn't hurt that much. And she also didn't like them much. Which meant that when she had to lick the glass wand thing, and it shocked her tongue, even though it didn't hurt much, it was really hard to keep doing it.

Maddie didn't push, and this time, they had dinner before she was allowed to have her orgasm. It was Chinese again. Maddie ate at the table, and Samantha was tied up on her hands and knees next to the table. And occasionally Maddie would hand-feed her little bits off food.

"And no fortune cookie for you, I'm afraid," said Maddie, when they were done eating. "I'm not really comfortable with you reading when you're like that. But mine says that fortune favors the bold, which does seem to be the way that we've been going. You can kiss my foot, and then I'll tie you to the bed, and you'll have your evening orgasm."

"Thank you," said Samantha. She pushed her lips against Maddie's shoe, which was apparently good enough--no need to go with her tongue or anything. And she was almost painfully turned on, with the weight of that name-tag, and the way that Maddie gave her a look that was both approving and appraising.

Back in the bedroom, it was the edging setup again with the vibrator. With the blindfold for the first while, as Maddie went through her videos and notes, and then without it.

Only this time, when she was finally done edging Samantha, Maddie put the vibrator away, and ran her fingers along Samantha's pussy, tracing her labia, and the entrance of her cunt, and the hood of her clit. When Samantha started moaning, Maddie shifted, so that she could put two of the fingers of one hand into Samantha's mouth, while keeping her other hand on her pussy.

The first time that Samantha had let Maddie tie her up, she'd had the most intense orgasm she could remember. That time, when Maddie used her fingers, rather than the vibrator, Samantha came so hard she thought she was going to pass out. And the pain of the nipple clamps seemed to push her even further out. It was amazing.

"It'll be a while before you'll be able to sleep tied up," said Maddie. "Takes a while to get used to."

She took the collar off of Samantha's neck, put it on the night table. "But I think you'll be able to handle sleeping with your cuffs on."

Samantha gave a sleepy nod. Then Maddie tossed a used T-shirt at her, and once that was securely somewhere Samantha could smell it, Maddie let her sleep, as she went and took care of a little more work.

There was different soap in the shower in the morning.

"Want to keep the associations clear," said Maddie, at breakfast. "Once it's established, we can move to irregular reinforcement, because that sort of thing lasts longer, but for now, the strawberry stuff is only for when you're about to submit."

"If you say so," said Samantha. "Is there like publications about this or something?"

"That," said Maddie, "would be awesome. A peer reviewed Journal of Erotic Submission? Man. So awesome. Anyhow; make sure you've got your collars with you--I've got to head out soon."

And she looked ready to head out. A grown-up business suit and, in general, everything put-together and professional.

"You know," said Samantha. "You didn't have to let me sleep in like that. I could've helped with the hair or something."

"Huh," said Maddie. "Like the service angle?"

"I. . . um." Samantha looked down. "Maybe a little?"

"At some point," said Maddie, "we're going to have to talk about what you're into, so I know where I'm working with your kinks, and where I'm working against them."

"I'm not a hundred percent into talks about what I'm into," said Samantha.

"Eh," said Maddie. "Didn't say that I'd only be working with your kinks. We'll fix the part where you don't like telling me things. Anyhow. Gotta go, Lisa is going to sleep for another hour or two, but you probably have to go before then, door will lock behind you."

"Sure," said Samantha, who hadn't been entirely aware that Lisa had come back, but that made sense--whatever nighthawking was, she lived there, and would have to sleep at some point. She left, and not a lot later than when Maddie left, because there was an awkward conversation waiting there that she wasn't even a little ready to attempt.

The next time, when Samantha sent the text saying that she wanted to spend the night, Maddie replied, telling her to wear a turtleneck or something, and wear the collar all day.

"Guh," Samantha replied. "For real?"

"And the cuffs, if you think you can get away with it."

Samantha put her phone away. Get away with it? She worked in publishing--she didn't need a sweater or anything to get away with it; publishing paid so little that there were a hell of a lot of weirdoes in the field.

But that wasn't her, and she did wear a massive, shapeless sweater that her mom had given her, and she had to fight back a blush when anyone looked at her.

It was cold enough out that the sweater made sense, and there wasn't any way that anyone would notice anything under those acres of wool. But the fact was, while obviously people were always naked under their clothing, Samantha had never really felt it quite so keenly. The leather against her skin was . . . it was like she expected to have to eat lunch sitting on the floor. There was that feeling that she got right before Maddie started hitting her, and she had that all day.

It was kind of amazing, and she was already really, really warmed up when she was on her way to Maddie's.

The thing about transit was that it was reasonably fast. But there wasn't any way that she could make it go faster, and she just wanted to take off her clothing and shower and then see what Maddie had come up with.

Finally, finally she was there and showered and smelling faintly of strawberries, and it turned out that what Maddie had come up with a conversation about what Samantha was into.

"First, though," said Maddie, "a beating. I've been wanting to hit you all week."

Samantha had kind of wanted Maddie to hit her all week. Still, the riding crop stung, and when she stopped, it was a relief, regardless of how turned on Samantha was.

"Good," said Maddie, when Samantha flinched away from the crop. "When you need a break from answering questions, we can go back to that."

Samantha nodded.

And then Maddie tied her down, and took out the vibrator. "When you're talking, it goes on; when you're not, it stays off. And if you take too long to answer, it's the crop again."

"Right," said Samantha.

"How many times a week do you masturbate?" asked Maddie.

"Three or four?" said Samantha, and there was the hum of the vibrator, and the feel of it. "I mean, you didn't say there was any rule against it?"

"No rule against it," said Maddie. "More or less often, now that we've started playing?"

Samantha hesitated, and the vibrator went off. And then Maddie laid the crop down on her breast; not hitting her, but definitely threatening.

"More," she said, softly. "It's almost every day now."

"And what do you think about while you masturbate?" asked Maddie.

That time, she did start hitting her before Samantha answered. "Doing things for you," said Samantha. "I mean, also you doing things to me, but . . . " vibrator went off, crop came down on her nipple, which made her gasp, and convulse in her bonds. "But one of the things I've been thinking about lately is licking you out, maybe after a session. I don't--"

"Not with that collar," said Maddie, flicking at Samantha's nametag. "And also I'm not really sure I'm going to be using you like that anyway. And you don't want it enough; maybe when you're aching for it, I'll let you lick a little. What else do you think about?"

There was more, and with the riding crop and the vibrator, Maddie got it out of her. And also what porn tumblrs she found hottest, and what she read, and so on.

It was hypnotic. By the end, she was just babbling about sex fantasies--"being bought at a slave auction and having to serve someone I’ve never met and being kept as a slave and maybe there'd be a brand, and--" and Samantha was barely aware of what she was saying, just putting words together so that she'd be able to keep that vibrator on her clit.

Only when she got close, she stopped talking and started gasping, at which point the vibrator went away until she started up again. When Maddie decided to stop for dinner, Samantha was like a half-melted candle.

"Come on," said Maddie, untying her from the bed. "Leftovers tonight, I'm afraid--I had a lunch date, and he wasn't hungry, and had to run, and I was not going to throw out half a steak to look like I didn't care about food or something."

Maddie was still dating? Well, it wasn't like they were dating, but Samantha hadn't been seeing anyone, and it was. . . and standing up seemed like way more effort than she was capable of.

"Come on," said Maddie, and Samantha rolled out of bed.

Maddie laughed. "No, when you wear the Samantha collar, you stand up when you go from one room to the next."

Samantha staggered up to her feet. "About this other collar."

"No," said Maddie. "I mean, I'm not going to lie--I'm looking forward to moving up to something else, but not until I'm ready. But your progress has been excellent, and you look great, and come on, I'm hungry."

The half-steak was excellent, though the fries weren't great cold, and then she got to gnaw on the bone from Maddie's steak, and then Maddie took her back to the bedroom, beat her until she couldn't take it, edged her until she couldn't take it, and then put the clamps on, and her fingers in Samantha's mouth, and made her come until she was seeing spots behind her eyes, and was as wrung out as a wet rag. And then she went to sleep, with the familiar scent of Maddie's undershirt up against her face.

The next week, when she got to Maddie's place, Lisa was there. "Oh," said Samantha, her hands going up to cover up the collar she was wearing.

"Hey, Samantha," said Lisa. "I hear that you're Maddie's sex slave now."

"Sub," said Maddie. "Or submissive. Slavery is a different thing. And it's going well, but like I said, we've really just started."

"Oh," repeated Samantha.

"Easy," said Maddie. "It's fine. It's not like we're actually doing anything particularly outre. And besides, I never said anything about keeping my life secret from my roommate."

"I think it's cute," said Lisa. "And lots of couples do a bit of kinky stuff in the bedroom."

"We're not a couple," said Maddie. "It's like we're tennis partners or something."

Samantha choked back an astonished laugh.

"Okay, maybe not exactly like we're tennis partners."

"Orgasm partners?" said Lisa.

"Well, partners in Samantha's orgasms," said Maddie.

"You're not--"

"Okay!" said Samantha. "This is really weird!"

"Sorry," said Lisa. "And don't worry about it; it's fine."

"Right," said Maddie. "St. Raphe apparently doesn't need quite as many nighthawks as it used to--"

"What's a nighthawk, anyway?" asked Samantha, trying to steer the conversation a little less weird.

"It's a radiologist who reads scans all night, who isn't on the regular staff," said Lisa. "Residents make like thirty k a year, but nighthawks make like a thousand dollars a shift, so it's how I can afford food other than canned beans. Only now there aren't quite as many shifts available, and I do not want to be running up more debt, given--"

"And since you're wearing that collar," said Maddie, "Even though Lisa is home tonight, you still have to do what I say. Go take a shower, shave, put the collar back on, and then go to the bedroom. You can wear a towel through the living room if you like."

Samantha blushed red and scurried off. It was their relationship, pretty much, and she hadn't expected that Maddie would keep it a secret or anything, but it was weird that someone else knew those sort of details.

When the shower was running, she couldn't hear much else, but when she was drying off, she could hear the ebb and flow of conversation outside. So she was going to have to go past Lisa wearing her various collars and cuffs and a towel.

For a minute, Samantha considered taking off the collar and getting dressed, and going and talking with Maddie and Lisa, and then maybe getting takeout and watching TV.

And that would mean not having a session with Maddie, and she'd been looking forward to that session basically since the last one had ended, and . . . and yeah, it was kind of hot that Lisa knew what was going on, and would see those cuffs and collar.

Would've been a little bit of an easier decision, if Lisa and Maddie had bigger towels in the bathroom. As it was, she could sort of wrap the one that was out around her, but there wasn't a lot left over for tying it off, and it was going to be really short. Like, there'd be a bit of butt visible short.

But it was that or not do what Maddie said, and have to deal with that. And, hell, Lisa was a doctor. She'd seen lots of butts.

When she went out, they stopped talking, and just watched her. And she would've run, but if she tried to run, the towel would've fallen off, and . . . and maybe she didn't necessarily want to run, but she also didn't want to do a striptease or something, and.

And by the time she made it to the bedroom, she was beet red, and shivering.

They were sitting pretty close to the door to the bedroom, and Maddie had told her that when she was told to go somewhere and had to wait, she was supposed to kneel next to the door in the position that Maddie had taught her, and wait. So she did, and could hear them.

"So there was that," said Lisa.

"Yeah," said Maddie.

"She's cute," said Lisa. "Doing good, Maddie."

"Like I said, I'm not sleeping with her."

"Why not?" said Lisa.

"Because that's not what I'm interested in."

"Weirdo," said Lisa. "You'll talk to her about it?"

"Yeah," said Maddie. "It's a lot sooner than it should be, but--"

"But if I can't pick up shifts somewhere, it'd--"

"I'll talk to her about it. And if not, I can cover you for a while."

"Thanks. And I don't want to keep you from your tennis."

"Yeah, you might want to have music on or something for the next few hours."

"And I'll stay in my room so you can play your usual dinner games."

"Deal," said Maddie.

And then there were the sounds of chairs moving, and then Maddie was there.

"So. . ." said Samantha.

"So," said Maddie. "We'll have you making your usual jerking off video soon. But here's what Lisa wanted me to talk to you about: how do you feel about moving in here?"

Samantha's immediate, natural inclination was to agree to whatever Maddie wanted her to do; whatever she'd been doing to her had been working, at least a little. But it wasn't . . . "That's a big step."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "That's the thing. Ideally, I'd have waited a month or two before suggesting it. But Lisa's . . . well, her budget is a little bit shot, so it'd be a help. Since you'd be sleeping in my room, you wouldn't have to pay a full share. Let's say six-fifty a month?"

That was a pretty good deal, actually. That was . . . she was paying almost a thousand for a crummy room in Inwood, with a roommate who never, ever took out the trash. The Upper West Side was also a lot closer to where she was working, and to everything else, and to--

"At which point, it's not going to be just Lisa who knows that we're living together," said Samantha.

"Yeah," said Maddie. "I mean, it's not like I tell everyone the details of my sex life, but . . . yeah, people will notice."

"Can you act like we're dating?"

Maddie considered, then shook her head. "I'm not going to make a point of correcting people," she said. "But I don't like lying."

"Can I think about it?" asked Samantha. "I have to give a month's notice if I'm leaving?"

"Or you can find another someone to take over the lease."

"True," said Samantha.

"And Luka and Marco are in the process of breaking up. But anyway. Think about, we'll talk about it. Now, up on the bed, and let's see you take yourself to the edge."

Samantha had been wobbling a bit, but this was part of the usual routine, and she sunk back into it. That was the way her Tuesday nights were supposed to go.

When she pulled her hand away, gasping, muscles clenching and unclenching, Maddie had that interested scientist look that she sometimes got.

"Good," she said. "And I realize that finding Lisa here wasn't the easiest thing for you, but you did really well." She sat down and patted her lap. "Come here," she said.

Samantha did, gratefully, feeling Maddie's hand on her ass, first rubbing softly, then smacking. And smacking hard enough that Samantha's feet kicked up, involuntarily. Everything else . . . well, there wasn't a good reason to set everything else aside. But by the time Maddie was done, Samantha was flinching in anticipation of each swat, and also so wet that she left a spot on Maddie's jeans.

There was more pain, and there was the vibrator, and then more pain.

And then it was time to go out to the living room, to eat the crust of Maddie's quiche, and then a bowl of ice cream without using a spoon or her hands, so that her face was pretty much covered in chocolate, and Maddie had to wash her off.

That was a little weird, because she could also hear Breaking Bad pretty clearly through the door of Lisa's room. Which meant that Lisa could probably hear Maddie's instructions. Only this time, whenever Samantha started getting distracted, she would run her fingers down the length of Samantha's pussy, which kept her pretty much focused.

When that was all done, there was more of the edging. This time, in addition to the blindfold, there were also headphones with a white noise generator, so she couldn't even hear herself signalling that she was close. It was almost as though she wasn't signalling, like Maddie just knew that she was close.

Even though the nipple clamps hurt, and even though Samantha didn't like them, she found herself squirming whenever Maddie touched her breast, gasping at every pinch on her nipples. Then the clips went on, and she was so very close, it was impossible.

"Excellent," said Maddie. "You are coming along really well, Samantha."

"Thanks," said Samantha, and then Maddie pushed her right over the edge, her hand there she'd wrung every last convulsion out of Samatha. It was a little weird. A lot weird. But it was also the best sex that she'd ever had.

When she was done, she snuggled up to one of Maddie's bras, just like usual, and went to sleep. Next morning, it seemed that Maddie was able to sleep late, so Samatha got up gingerly enough that she didn't wake Maddie up, showered, and left. Wasn't smart to make up her mind so fast, but at the same time . . . well, Samantha didn't like talking about that sort of thing; it was embarrassing and awkward and it would be better if Maddie just knew everything without Samantha had to say anything.

But at this point, she was pretty sure that she really did need to talk to Maddie about things.

"Lunch?" she asked, by text.

"Sure. 12:30."

"Bravo Okay?"

"Sure."

And that was that. Work was fine, like it usually was--there was a book that didn't suck that she'd picked out of the slush-pile, and now she was shepherding it through production, and there the terrible book where production hadn't gotten the ad copy, so she had to come up with that, and so on.

Bravo was okay. There were better places to get a slice, but it walked the line between the really cheap-ass rubber cheese dollar slices and the ricotta and rabbit meatball places with twelve dollar cocktails. Slice of pizza and a beer and a place to sit. Also, quiet enough that they could talk, and noisy enough that nobody else could hear what they were saying.

"So," said Maddie, after they got their pizza and their seats. "Was there something you wanted to talk about, or did you just want to hang out?"

"First talk, then hang out," said Samantha. "Let's say that I moved in. What would the deal be?"

"Well," said Maddie. "We're both working. So every night can't be Tuesday. And also I've been seeing C.J., so there are going to be nights that I'm not even home. But . . . okay. Tuesday is still Tuesday, and that's going to keep going more or less the way it's going."

Samantha nodded.

"Rest of the time, if we're both home, and if you want to play, you put that collar on when you get home, and maybe we'll do something after dinner. Or maybe not--it'll depend on my schedule, and if I've got the energy for a session, and so on. But that's how you let me know."

"And, um. Sessions are. . . "

"Aren't necessarily going to finish with an orgasm," said Maddie. "Tuesdays are. I mean, that's part of the process, and it's important, and you've got my Tuesdays. But the rest of the time, you'll have fun, but not necessarily that particular fun."

Samantha swallowed. "Well. You're the boss."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "I am."

"But what's the deal with my stuff?" said Samantha. "And--"

"I've seen your place," said Maddie. "If you move in, you get more closet space than you have. And if you want a bookcase in the living room--"

"Two bookcases?"

Maddie considered, then shrugged. "Sure," she said. "Class up the place a little. But not piles of books on top of the bookcase, or those folders full of paper, or really ratty falling apart books, or anything like that--keep it looking nice, okay?"

Samantha considered, then nodded. Truth was, she held onto printouts of manuscripts longer than she should. "Desk?"

"Table," said Maddie. "My desk is for me."

"And a bed?"

"My bed," said Maddie. "That's a thing I meant to mention, and which I forgot. You sleep naked, and with those cuffs on, every night. And once you're sleeping comfortably with that, I'll start attaching the cuffs to the headboard and footboard."

"Oh," said Samantha.

Maddie smiled. "Yeah, there's that. Also, this way, we can be sure that you'll be taking up the part of the bed that I'm giving you."

There was a pause, as they ate their pizza. Which was pretty good, because pizza was usually pretty good.

"You in?" asked Maddie after a while.

Samantha hesitated. "What's the deal with the next collar?"

Maddie nodded, took another few bites. "Had a feeling you might be curious about that," she said. "And . . . okay. I don't generally want to tell you about what's coming next, because I want to lead you up to it--I mean, there's stuff that you're not currently interested in. If I can get you into it, we'll do it. If not, not, but if I tell you about it, you'd freak and leave, and that's not what I want to do."

"Yeah, but--"

"But you want some idea of where you're going."

"Yeah," said Samantha. She looked at her plate, which had those clear spots from the grease, and little flecks of sauce and congealed cheese. "Because the thing is, you've been pretty good about getting me to like things."

"I know!" said Maddie. "And that's a fair question, and that's why I brought it."

She took out a collar. Red leather, rather than white, and a tag which said _Sandy._ '

"Sandy?" asked Samantha. "Why Sandy?"

"Well," said Maddie, "You're blonde. And nobody's ever called you Sandy, right?"

"Right," said Samantha.

"Which makes it clean--I mean, there aren't existing associations for people calling you Sandy. If it was Sammie, you'd think about sleep-away camp or something, and maybe that'd help, and maybe it wouldn't, but it would complicate things."

"I guess?" said Samantha.

"Trust me," said Maddie. "Anyhow. Rules for this collar are a bit more severe than the white one. No clothing, no talking unless I talk to you, no walking--you crawl--no using furniture. And. . . well, with the white collar, it's just me, basically. With this one, you're going to have to do what other people tell you, also. And I might let some of them have sex with you."

Samantha looked at the collar on the formica tabletop at the back of Bravo Pizza, like it was some sort of snake.

"There are going to be a few other things with that one," said Maddie. "But here's the thing; it's like the white one, in that I'm not going to put it on you. At some point--not yet--but at some point, I'll give it to you, and when you come back from work, you can pick which collar to put on. Or none! I'm never going to make you put on any of them."

"Right," said Samantha. She looked up at Maddie. "And this is the last one? There are only two?"

"No," said Maddie. "And I will not be talking about the last one at this point. For a couple of reasons, but mainly because I haven't decided on the rules for it. There's a lot I don't know about which things'll work for you and which won't, and also about what I want to do to you."

"And there's the freak out and leave aspect," said Samantha.

"Yeah," said Maddie. "There's that."

"And. . . Okay. Here's the thing; my place is a shithole. It's the third floor up in a walk-up, and there are waterbugs. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to find a shithole that cheap anywhere in commuting distance, if this doesn't work out."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "That's always the thing about moving in with someone. And . . . I guess . . . look, if it doesn't work out, I'll sleep on the couch half the time, until we can find you somewhere else."

Samantha nodded. Then shivered.

"So you're in," said Maddie.

"Almost," she said. "But . . . what does Lisa have to say about all of this?"

"She thinks it's cute," said Maddie. "And yes I talked to her about it, and yes she's cool with you being--with us being--a little more public about the stuff that we're doing."

A long pause, and Samantha considered that, her legs twisting against each other.

"Anything else?"

"Reassure me that this is fun for both of us?"

"This is fun for both of us," said Maddie. "I mean, it's hella fun for me, and you seem to enjoy yourself."

Samantha reached out, touched the collar on the table. "Sandy? Really?"

"Absolutely," said Maddie. "I've always thought you'd be a good Sandy."

Another shudder. There was this haunted house thing that she'd gone to as a kid, and part of it was where they had to walk in the dim light on this glass bridge, over a pit filled with spikes. This all felt like that first step, where her foot went out, and her weight went forward, and she couldn't pull back. The bridge was there, and she knew it, only it also felt like she knew it wasn't there.

"I'm in," said Samantha. "But only after I can get someone to take over the lease, and Kira will have to agree, or--"

"I'll take care of it," said Maddie. "Gotta run, though; someone wants me to consult about carpet color for a cubicle farm. What would actually help would be giving them offices with doors and not firing five percent of their workforce every year, but . . . well, fuck it. I'll give them the usual crap, and cash the check."

"Sounds good," said Samantha.

"Yeah, well. Now that I'm going to be keeping a woman, I'm going to need to earn the money to do it. And when you get home, start packing. I'll get started on finding someone to take over your lease."

Two hours later, there was another text from Maddie.

"Luka's moving in, you're moving out. You've got three days."


	3. Chapter 3

It took Samantha two and a half days to move out. To do it that quickly, she needed help from Maddie and Lisa and C.J and Josh, and as a result, all of them knew that she was moving in with Maddie.

They'd probably have found out sooner or later, but . . . well, it was the sort of thing she'd daydreamed about for years, and hadn't really believed that it would ever happen, and Maddie was excellent at what she did.

Only Maddie was also dating C.J., and that meant that he knew what Samantha was moving in to do, and that . . . they didn't say too much to each other either when they were packing up the U-haul, or or unpacking the boxes up to Lisa and Maddie's place. All it would've taken was one creepy smile, or off-color remark, and she'd have . . . well, she'd have started deeply regretting her choices. But while he smiled at her a couple of times, it wasn’t in a creepy way, and he spent a lot more talking looking at Maddie than he did looking at her.

Then she was moved in, and her name was off the lease on that hellhole in Inwood, and she'd taken her step onto the glass bridge.

What the hell? If she was going to do it, she'd do it. Once the boxes were unloaded, and C.J. and Josh went to take the U-haul back, Samantha put on the white collar, the one with the name Samantha on it. Lisa gave Maddie an approving look when she noticed, and Maddie just shrugged, and helped Samantha unpack her clothing, and her books.

Most of Samantha's furniture had come from Goodwill, and to Goodwill it returned. There wasn't much point in trying to dick around on craigslist to get fifty bucks for a sagging desk or a scratched-up formica table. As long as she was staying with Maddie, she'd have nicer stuff, and once that was done, she'd have saved up enough money to buy a few things that were actually nice. And also, they would've looked shabby and terrible next to the stuff in Maddie's place.

She'd even left her bookcases behind. Maddie had bought a couple of new ones that were made out of real wood, rather than something with a funny Swedish name. Samantha’s battered paperbacks looked a little out of place there.

Still took forever to unpack all the books, and her clothing, and the three actually nice bits of furniture that Samantha owned; an endtable, a rocking chair, and an art glass desk lamp that was 100% not a Tiffany lamp.

They had risotto for dinner--Lisa cooked--and then Samantha looked at Maddie, who laughed. 

"Not tired?"

"Little tired," said Samantha. "Not that tired."

"And may as well get what you came for," said Lisa.

Maddie looked at her.

"What?" said Lisa.

"Look, if you want me to schedule you in for Mondays," said Maddie.

"We've been through that," said Lisa. "And you have your subject now."

"Yes," said Maddie. "You can shower," she added to Samantha. "And now that you live here, you can also brush your teeth."

She did. Also, not her usual toothpaste, but it was probably some sort of conditioning thing, and not a comment on her normal dental hygiene.

They'd brought Samantha's stuff upstairs, and they'd unpacked it, and she was sure that she'd put her towels in the bathroom. But there wasn't anything there except for the smaller ones that had been there before. So she wrapped herself up as best she could manage in one of those, and made her rapid way to the bedroom. Again, both Lisa and Maddie watched her, and again, when she was kneeling in the position that Maddie taught her, she could hear what they were saying through the door.

"Gotta say," said Lisa. "Did not think you'd be able to pull that off. And she's paying a nine hundred a month?"

"Six-fifty," said Maddie. "I'm covering the rest of her share. I mean, I can afford it, and she's worth it."

Samantha wasn't sure how she felt about that. But the fact was, it was six hundred and fifty dollars a month for a place in Manhattan, and she wasn't going to start asking any questions about that.

"And how long before she starts crawling around naked?" asked Lisa.

"Wait; you're in favor, or against?"

"Moderately in favor," said Lisa. "She's cute."

"Good," said Maddie. "I mean, it might not happen at all. We'll see how things go. Speaking of which, I've got to get to work. Lot to do."

"Work," said Lisa.

"Well, hobby. Anyway."

"Anyway."

Samantha tensed, waiting, and Maddie gave her a satisfied smile as she came in. "Up on the bed. One edge tonight, and then we get to talk a little more about your fantasies and such."

So Samantha got up on the bed and closed her eyes, and played with herself until she was right on the edge of orgasm. This time, there was the blindfold and headphones with white noise, as she talked about sex fantasies. And Maddie also used the electric shock thing this time--whenever Samantha was quiet too long, she'd get a shock, somewhere. Breasts and thighs and the soles of her feet, and wrists and ankles.

She could hear what she was saying, only with the blindfold and the white noise and that vibrator on whenever she was talking, it was a bit like she wasn't saying anything--it was a bit like she was falling asleep, and there was someone else talking. It was easier, anyway, and with the blindfold. It was almost like Maddie wasn't there, that those stories and fantasies and desires were bubbling out the way they had when she'd been alone, and touching herself.

"Very good," said Maddie after a while. "Okay. I've got some work to do, so I can't supervise you for the next while. If you want to edge, though, that's okay--I'll keep an eye on you while I work, but I figure that I can trust you not to come without permission."

Samantha nodded.

"Fingers, though," said Maddie. "No toys. And if you need to get them wet, use your mouth, or moisture you can get from outside. I haven't entirely decided on what I'm going to do yet, but we're going to be a little cautious about vaginal penetration for now."

That was ominous, but Samantha really wanted to touch. So she nodded again, and then, hesitantly, started moving against her fingers, moving her hips to push her clit between them.

The white noise hadn't stopped, and the blindfold was still on, but even through that, she could hear Maddie in the room occasionally, as though she was off in the distance. A cough, or her keyboard tapping, or that sort of thing. Maybe also a recording of what Samantha had just been saying, far off and away, and even though she wasn't sure how she felt about that, the thought also made her have to pull her hand away, her hips still moving, until her breath calmed and her pulse stopped thrumming in her ears.

No idea how long that went before Maddie's hand was on her thigh, and she startled. "Very nice," said Maddie. "But that's it for the night. And since you've been good, I'll give you one more edge. No orgasm tonight, but if you'd like, I'll put the nipple clips on for that last edge."

Samantha hesitated. She didn't like those clips, but at the same time, there was something to the way they bit down, the way the pain mixed with the pleasure. "Please?"

Maddie didn't answer, but her fingers worked Samantha's nipple to a peak, and then the clips bit down.

And then it was Maddie's fingers on her pussy. Samantha tried to keep her hips from moving, to make it last as long as she could. It wasn't that long.

"Very nice," said Maddie, when Samantha signaled that she was close, and then she took off the blindfold, and the headphones, and the clips. "I think this is going to work really well."

"Yeah," said Samantha. "Works great. Let's do it again now."

Maddie laughed. "There's no rush. Tomorrow night, and the night after that, probably. And even if I've got a date or something, we're in the same bed; there'll be plenty of time for this sort of thing from here on out."

That was a thought.

It took a while for Samantha to fall asleep, even though the bed was a lot better than hers had been. But she did, naked, cuffed and collared.

"By the way," said Maddie, as she was heading out the next morning. "There's a pool downstairs. And a gym. I've got a client out in Newark, so I'm not going to be back until dinner, basically, so you should go swimming or something."

Samantha had taken her collar off when she got dressed in the morning, but she fingered her neck where the collar usually sat, and looked over at Lisa, who was looking through the fridge. And who grinned.

"Is that . . . um."

"Sure," said Maddie. "If it helps. Very strict instructions! Work out, you! Also, you don't have to wear the collar when you're working out. At least not for the Samantha collar."

"God," said Samantha.

"Right," said Maddie, taking the pop-tart that Samantha had put in for herself. "See you later."

"Yeah," said Samantha.

"Well, you've got it bad," said Lisa, who'd decided on a yogurt.

"I don't know," said Samantha. "I mean, I'm not going to say that I'm in to normal stuff. But . . ."

"S'okay," said Lisa. "We've all got our thing, and at least you're going for yours. Good luck."

Then she was gone too, and even though they were a lot closer to midtown in the new apartment than she had been up in Inwood, Samantha didn't have all day to mess around.

Work was work, and when it was done, Samantha went back home, and then went for an hour on the elliptical, and then took a quick swim in the pool. Truth was, it was something that she'd meant to do for a while, but gym memberships, and the time, and . . . whatever. The pool wasn't huge, and there were a few other people there, none of whom would know that she was doing that because her . . . because Maddie had told her to.

Could be, she'd pushed a bit hard, because her arms and legs felt like noodles when she went back upstairs. But while it felt like she'd pushed too hard, that also felt good--that she'd been pushed, and she did everything she'd been told.

That time, instead of setting her up on the bed, Maddie had her kneel next to the desk with the vibrator tied in place over her clit, and she played with Samantha's breasts as she read her emails, and responded, and filled out some forms. It wasn't training, or at least, it didn't feel like training. It felt more like she was there, and Maddie wanted to play with something while she worked, and Samantha was something.

And also that Maddie liked breasts--liked Samantha's breasts--and it was the sort of relationship where she didn't have to care about what Samantha liked, or wanted, and could just use her however.

It was pretty great, honestly. As was that last edge before they went to sleep, with the clips on, and with three of Maddie's fingers in her mouth, and Maddie's other hand on her clit. It wasn't an orgasm--it left her aching to come and unsatisfied--but at the same time, it was something, and it was something pretty amazing.

"Tomorrow's Tuesday, so we'll do a thing," said Maddie, as Samantha cuddled up to Maddie's used bra. "Wednesday, though, I'm going to be over at C.J.'s, and then Thursday Zack's getting us together for trivia night--you should come."

Samantha fought back a scowl and curled a little tighter.

"But Friday is the weekend, and Lisa's going to be working, so we'll have twenty-four hours of you being naked and doing things." Maddie ruffled Samantha's hair and turned out the lights. "See? Great idea."

It was. Tuesday was amazing, Wednesday was a little lonely, and then Thursday they had to go and face everyone who knew that she'd moved in with Maddie, who was still dating C.J.

Which went over fine. It wasn't the most complicated relationship any of them had gotten into--or maybe it was, but Samantha didn't go into details, and it seemed like Lisa hadn't decided to go into details, so it was just a regular sort of poly arrangement, maybe? Which had been weird when they were in school, but had become a lot less weird in the time since.

Also, Maddie paid for her drinks, which made her drink a little more than usual, which made her a little better at trivia than usual. Well, to be accurate, a little worse at trivia than usual, but more willing to answer questions, and since she usually knew the answer, they won.

"That was fun," said Maddie, on the way back. "Zack . . . he'd be a disaster to live with--"

"To live anywhere near," said Samantha. "He's like one of those cat people, only instead of cats, it's garbage."

"Yeah, but he's actually a nice guy--not like a 'nice guy' nice guy, but--"

"Be nicer if he was neater," said Samantha.

"Yeah, well, he was dating Carrie for a while, so it wouldn't matter, because they'd have staff to be neat for him. No, that'll work."

"I guess?" said Samantha.

"It will," said Maddie. "It's great, when things fit into place like that, you know? When it works out well and everyone's happy."

"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match--" Samantha sang, off-key, and knowing it, but not quite able to stop.

"Maybe," said Maddie. "Not for a while, though. Not until you're ready."

Samantha went cold and that, and then hot. "Well."

"Well," said Maddie. "I'm going right to sleep. You drink a cup or two of water, and then get to sleep yourself. And I've got to get out to Newark early again, so shower, swim, make me dinner, and be ready when I come back tomorrow."

Hot and cold and hot again. A weekend date was going to be--not a date. A weekend session. Whatever it was, it was going to be . . .

"Also," said Maddie. "Pigs have corkscrew-shaped cocks?"

"Yeah!" said Samantha. "And lady pigs have corkscrew-shaped vaginas. I thought everyone knew that."

"No," said Maddie. "Not everyone knew that. Also not the stuff about Francis Bacon, or that guy who tightrope walked between the twin towers--"

"My job is to read books," said Samantha. "I know lots of stuff! It doesn't matter that much, because anyone with a smartphone can know the exact same stuff in two minutes without having to start off knowing anything, like that guy who came with Zack and was trying to cheat the whole time, but still."

"But still indeed," said Maddie. "Still. That's, you know, neat."

"Yeah," said Samantha, with a happy sigh.

"Oh, and," said Maddie. "When I say be ready, that means collar on, cuffs on, naked, and hands and knees in front of the door, like I've taught you. Fits you better than kneeling, I think."

"Guh," said Samantha, blushing, and also getting so wet so fast it wasn't like anything that had ever happened to her before. 

"Head down to the floor, ass up in the air," Maddie finished.

It was the subway, so nobody was looking at them. Half of them were reading kindles or playing with their phones or whatever, but some of them had heard, and there were sort of shocked looks, or smiles--no eye contact, but they were listening.

"Sounds good," said Samantha, in a small voice.

"Right," said Maddie. "Our stop."

Samantha was drunk and the world was spinning a little at the edges. After she'd gotten her two cups of water, she got undressed, and put her collars on, and went to sleep next to Maddie, who was already snoring softly. It was and it wasn't like being someone's girlfriend. She'd never kissed Maddie, never seen her naked, and . . . and if she did see her naked, it wouldn't be the same, not really. Because it wasn't about that, where it mattered that Maddie was pretty. She was, but it'd be the same if she wasn't--Samantha was doing what Maddie told her because Maddie had that power over her, not because she was so beautiful that Samantha wanted to listen to her.

And it was also like but not exactly like the sort of thing that Samantha was into, as far as the whole BDSM thing went. If Maddie had been into elaborate rigs, and maybe a bit more interested in sex, or . . . well, there were lots of things that Samantha wanted to try. But the thing was, the main thing that she was interested in was being someone else's object. In being tied up and fucked because someone else wanted her tied up and fucked. And that was certainly what was happening. She fell asleep, more or less content, the longing in her pussy a distant ache. Whatever Maddie's plans were for Friday, they were almost certainly going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Lisa was still there when Samantha came back from work. She was almost tempted to get undressed before Lisa left, but no. That wasn't the deal, and even if Maddie told her to, it'd be weird, and . . . and anyway. Elliptical, pool, and then shower, and then start cooking. And then Lisa was finally ready to go, wearing scrubs. She gave Samantha a wink as she was at the door. "Have fun," she said. "Assuming you're allowed."

"Thanks?" said Samantha.

"No, but seriously," said Lisa. "You've got a day or two of what you're seriously into to look forward to, and I have thirty-eight straight hours of looking at MRIs, and people die if I get things wrong."

Samantha did have a day or two of what she was seriously into to look forward to.

The thing was, Maddie hadn't said when she was going to be coming back, and she didn't respond to texts or answer her phone, so Samantha made pasta with a meat sauce, and then got undressed, and waited in front of the door, on her hands and knees, face to the floor, ass up in the air.

What she should have done was to bring her phone with her, so that if Maddie decided to call, she'd be able to answer. Also, playing fruit ninja or something wouldn't have been in the spirit of the thing, but at least she could've known how long it was since she'd set herself up. But if she went to get it, there was the chance that Maddie would walk in when she was getting her phone, and she wouldn't be where she was supposed to be.

So she stayed there, waiting, shifting her weight, and she tried to think about something other than the way she felt, naked and on display. If Lisa came back, or if the landlord decided to check on something, or . . .

The door opened, and Samantha tensed, tried to breathe, tried to keep her position.

Maddie patted Samantha's ass as she came in. Then she toed her shoes off and ran her hands through her hair. "Newark," she said. "And fucking assholes who want some other answer than 'pay industry standards or higher and let your employees feel like they're part of your success or failure, if you want to keep people from leaving,' God."

There was a pause, and Samantha tried to keep from wriggling.

"Yeah," said Maddie. "And there was a commute, which took forever, and I knew that there was a weekend waiting for me. Anyhow. I'm going to shower and change. You stay there. And after dinner, I'm thinking it's about time for us to start you on butt stuff. Certainly figures a bit in your fantasies, and it's probably something that I can work with, depending on your responses."

And then she was gone, and the shower started, and Samantha held her position--almost held her breath--and waited. Waiting was really, really hard.

Finally Maddie came back and put the sauce back on the burner. Then they ate, Maddie at the table, and Samantha under the table. And with her hands tied behind her back, which left her with sauce across her chin and chest, because spaghetti spread the sauce pretty far. So Maddie had to wipe her clean before she got started.

Which meant putting something up her butt.

"We're starting small, and we're starting with glass," said Maddie.

Which wasn't strictly accurate. It started with Maddie putting on a latex glove, and working lube into Samantha's asshole. She found herself biting her lip, squirming, trying to get away from the finger that she'd be fantasizing about getting more or less in that way.

"More interest than experience, eh?" asked Maddie.

Samantha nodded.

"S'okay," said Maddie. "We'll get that experience started, anyway."

Glass was smooth, anyway. And a little cold, but also a little . . . it was something that she was interested in, but she also hadn't really gotten around to experimenting with it, and it was uncomfortable. Which was part of why it was hot?

"We'll work up to steel--I know that silicone is more popular, but if you can handle something more substantial, I like the aesthetics of steel better. Real question is long-term use, and that's where we're headed."

Samantha shuddered as the plug slipped into place. It hurt a little, and left her feeling full, and maybe needing to use the toilet.

"Good," said Maddie. "Now, let's get your first edge recorded, and then we'll talk a little."

She had to walk. It felt a bit like crawling would be more appropriate, but she had to walk. So she did, and then nearly got herself off, with Maddie sitting on a chair watching her, wearing her sweats and a ponytail, and looking really interested, like she always did. It was weird and hot and weirdly hot.

But when she was done, rather than starting another activity, Maddie had her lie on her side, and she took the plug out, and let Samantha rest her head on her lap.

"So," she said. "Anything you were looking forward to for the weekend?"

"Um," said Samantha.

"By which you mean yes, but that you're not 100% ready to talk about it."

"A little," said Samantha. "I'm just . . . maybe we could try the other collar for a bit?"

"Huh," said Maddie. "No, I don't think so. Because it's . . . right. One thing is that you're not ready for the next collar yet, and you won't be for a while. And for another thing, a lot of the things about the other collar is that it'd be pushing your limits a little, right?"

"A little?"

"A lot," said Maddie. "It would push your current limits a lot. But most of that stuff isn't relevant for tomorrow. I mean, I'd have to set up sex with someone else, and that'd take more than a day to set up, and Lisa is going to be out, so it's not like there'd be any significance to you not being allowed clothing, even if there were other people around."

"I guess," said Samantha. "And that's kind of why I want to try it?"

"That's fair," said Maddie. "And we're going to try a few things, anyway. But the thing about trying something is that there's a chance that you're not going to like it. And I want to be careful about the associations I'm going to set up with the next collar, so we'll wait until it's something you really want to do."

It did make sense, and while Samantha hadn't started off convinced that Maddie was going to make her like things, she been pretty much convinced by that point. Still.

"Also," said Maddie, lightly stroking Samantha's hair. "There are some . . . marks? Tokens? Before you get that second collar."

"Marks?"

"Piercings, I think," said Maddie. "Septum, and nipples."

"Oh," said Samantha, and stiffened up slightly.

"See, that's my point," said Maddie. "When you're ready for that, you'll let me know, and I'll decide whether I want to move with that second collar."

"But it seems a little permanent?"

"When we're done playing, you can always let them heal up if you don't like them."

Samantha nodded, but she was still curled up pretty tight.

"And they're so useful!" said Maddie. "When I want you kept in place, a chain to the nose-ring works perfectly and looks right, and then with the nipples, that'll keep them sensitized all day long, and I can keep weights there for a lot longer than with the clamps. It'll be great."

"Not entirely convinced," said Samantha.

"I know," said Maddie. "We'll get there. Now, like I said, we're going to be trying a bunch of a stuff today, and some of this is kind of long-term planning--like I said, I haven't entirely decided where I'm going with this project, and I'm going to try a few things, to see how I like them. So, down on the floor, under the desk, and we'll start with a foot massage from you."

That sounded . . . that sounded pretty nice, actually. There wasn't that much room under the desk, but Samantha fit, and then Maddie sat down, and Samantha started working on her feet.

It wasn't something that she'd done before, exactly, but it was mostly kneading, pushing with her thumbs and fingers, and it felt nice, both just as a tactile thing, and also because she'd been able to do something sort of sexual for Maddie for once, which was something she'd been wanting to do for a while.

"Not bad," said Maddie, after a while, and she pulled her chair back. "I do feel that you need a couple of new paraphilias, and that might be a good one."

"Paraphilias?"

"Sorry. I'm focusing on fetishism for the moment--you've been moving nicely on masochism, which is great, but as Sandy you're going to be spending a lot of time on your hands and knees, so getting sexually aroused by feet might be something worth doing."

Samantha hadn't been told to stop, but she paused at that. "You can do that?" she asked.

"Darcangelo, Shauna.," said Maddie. "2008, I think? Conditioned guys to get aroused by things like geometric shapes and penny jars. Good work if you can get it. Not a fan of the idea?"

"I'm not . . ." Samantha got back to work, uncomfortable, flushed, deeply turned on.

"You can go down to your hands and knees and kiss my feet, Samantha. And then you'll come up and do some edges, and you won't have to talk this time."

If she hadn't said anything about giving Samantha a foot fetish, it might have been a little easier. And a little less hot. She knelt, kissed the back of Maddie's feet, first one, then the other, and then looked up for more instructions.

"Not bad," said Maddie. "Now, up on the bed, and you get a prize for being good. Only this time, hands and knees."

She got up, took the position that Maddie wanted.

"We're going to be working like this for a while, I think," said Maddie. "Sooner or later you are probably going to want the Sandy collar, and when you do, I'm going to want you to impress people. So anal conditioning is going to be the big thing we're going to work on for a while."

Samantha wriggled, bit her lip as Maddie worked the plug back in. "That'll stay during your edging sessions," she said. "At least until you're ready for something more substantial. And hands and knees for when you're going to be allowed to come, and lying down on your stomach . . ."

She paused, moved a pillow under Samantha's hips. "Like that--lie down?"

Samantha lay down, the vibrator pressed between her and the pillow.

"Lovely," said Maddie. "Nice and welcoming."

The vibrator switched on. "Like that, for edging, at least when I don't need you to talk. Maybe something with your hair, to keep your chin up when I do? But anyhow."

The vibrator switched on, brought her close, then switched off. It wasn't quite as easy to relax into that as usual, but it didn't take long before she was panting, Maddie only allowing her short breaks before turning the thing back on again, but off, and then on again, and off, and Samantha's breasts were aching for the clips, her pussy for Maddie's touch.

"And tonight," said Maddie, "we'll start with attaching one wrist to the headboard. Keep you on your side of the bed, anyway. Now, back up on your hands and knees."

Samantha groaned from her core when Maddie put the clamps on, and then pushed her back down to the bed. They hurt more like that, with the pressure of her body grinding them into her. But then Maddie's hand was on her clit, pushing between Samantha and that pillow, and Samantha's hips started to move.

Then the plug came halfway out, then back in, and then out.

One hand on the plug and one hand on Samantha's pussy meant that she wasn't sucking on Maddie's fingers, which left her feeling a little empty. And the plug hurt--not too much, but it had been in a lot, and she was sore and it hurt both going in and out, and. . .

And the way Maddie was sitting, her foot was pretty close to Samantha's face. She turned into it, pressing her lips against it, eyes closed.

"Good," said Maddie. "Very good. Would you like to edge a few times like this, or finish right away?"

Samantha groaned. She'd edged lots of times, and wanted to finish. Only that was with the vibrator, and without the clamps, and . . . "a few more edges?" she said.

"Excellent," said Maddie. "Okay, let me know when you're close."

It wasn't long before she did. Only when Samatha grunted to let Maddie know that she was close, Maddie didn't stop playing with her. Not enough to push her over the edge, but also not stopping. One finger, up and down along the length of her pussy, just drifting along her labia, mostly fingertip, sometimes nail. And the plug didn't stop working in her ass.

Another signal, and this time she got a break. A longer break then she'd been getting, and then Maddie started again. And stopped again, when Samantha told her she was close. And again.

Then Maddie told her to go ahead, and rammed that plug home just as Samantha started to come. Samantha screamed into her pillow as she convulsed, Maddie's hand moving on her clit, smooth and soft and strong, not letting her go until she was done.

"Well done," said Maddie, taking the plug out, cleaning it off, wiping the lube off of Samantha's butt. "Could be we'll be doing something similar again tomorrow, depending on how you behave."

It had been one hell of an orgasm; Samantha was already half asleep, but she smiled at that thought. Again? A second orgasm in two days? That sounded . . . well, a little dangerous. But nice.

"I've set an alarm for you," said Maddie, as she attached a rope to the cuff on Samantha's wrist, and then to the headboard. "Turn it off before I'm too awake. Then bathed and shaved and bring me breakfast in bed. And don't eat anything without permission; you can have water."

Getting up early sounded a bit less nice. But breakfast in bed might be fun. Was going to be fun. Just like everything else Maddie had planned.

There was enough slack in the rope that Samantha could pull her arms down in front of her when she turned onto her side to sleep. But there wasn't much more than that. She woke up a few times at night, trying to find a comfortable way to sleep, or just tossing and turning a little. Not much, though--just enough that she always remembered that it was there, and was always reacting to it.

It certainly left her in the right frame of mind in the morning, when the alarm on Maddie's phone went off on the bedstand next to her. She turned it off and looked over at Maddie, who gave her a sleepy sort of grin. Good enough? Maybe? Anyway, she untied her wrist, took her bath, put her collar and cuff back on, and made some french toast.

There wasn't one of those breakfast trays. Or a french maid uniform, which seemed like the sort of thing that she should be wearing. But there was a serving tray, so she put the toast on it, and a cup of juice, and a cup of tea--Maddie liked tea more than coffee.

It looked a bit like a picture of a complete breakfast, though without the bowl of sugar cereal.

By the time Samantha brought it in, Maddie was still wearing pajamas, but she was sitting up in bed, with her glasses on, and looking over that yellow notebook which she used to keep track of various Samantha things.

"Right," said Maddie. "Okay. I realize that the thing to do would be to make sure you do this sexily, but what I'm mainly interested in is that you do this without spilling hot tea on me, or getting toast and syrup on my sheets. So. Stand next to the bed--right, like that. And keep the tray there. And keep your eyes on the tray. I don't want you dropping it, and I don't want you reading over my shoulder."

Samantha could do that. Probably.

The thing was, the tray hadn't started that heavy, but it got heavier as she held it, and it was a little tricky to keep it balanced at all times, without having her shoulders and elbows lock up. And also she was kind of curious about what Maddie was reading, or possibly writing, and it was right there; she could just look over, and see what she'd planned, or--

It hurt. And it seemed that Maddie wasn't in any hurry to finish eating, and she kept putting the tea back on a different place on the tray, which made her have to balance it differently.

When she was finally done with the tea and the drink, it got a little easier, but not easier enough. It was like she'd been lifting weights all morning when Maddie finally took the tray away, and put it on the floor.

There were just a few crusts left, the bits that Samantha had burned, and a few puddles of syrup.

"Go ahead," said Maddie. "Breakfast."

Without being told, Samantha put her hands behind her back, and Maddie clipped her cuffs together there. And then Maddie got up, and got some clothing out of the closet, and headed to the bathroom. So Samantha knelt next to the bed, and licked up syrup, and waited. And found herself shivering uncontrollably, even though it wasn't that cold.

She'd had an orgasm the night before, but this was as arousing as anything that she could remember, and that was paralyzingly frightening. She could see herself doing this, doing more things like this, until that was what she was.

But it was hot. It was really hot. She licked the plate clean, and waited, kneeling.

"Nice," said Maddie, coming back in. "Next experiment. Up on the bed, hands and knees."

Samantha did as she was told, and gasped as the plug went in--as a bigger plug went in--and then gasped again as the clamps went on.

"Like I said," said Maddie, "you do get another orgasm today. Mainly because I'm interested in seeing how you respond to post-orgasmic stimulation."

"I--" gasped Samantha.

"Shush," said Maddie. "Subject reports are unreliable; we're going to do things my way, and I'm going to get good data."

And that was what they were going to do. Samantha's breathing got ragged, as Maddie's fingers worked her up to the point of orgasm, let her fall back, pushed her up to the edge again, let her back down. Once again, Maddie's foot was near Samantha's face, so she tucked herself into it as she brought her up to the edge again, and pushed her over.

And didn't stop. Samantha tried to writhe away from Maddie's hand, just to catch her breath, but her cuffs were attached to the cords on Maddie's bed, so while she could change her posture a little, she couldn't actually get away.

It took a little while, but Maddie brought her up over the edge a second time. It was a smaller and less intense orgasm, but it was another one. And the third one was smaller than that; it was barely pleasurable. After that Maddie still didn't stop, but there wasn't anything left, and after a while, she could see that.

"So," she said, when she was done. "Multiply orgasmic, but not very. It might be interesting to see if that could be changed, one way or another. And now let's see how obedient you are when you aren't turned on. Back up to hands and knees."

That was easy enough to obey. And then Maddie took the nipple clips off, and it hurt, it really hurt a lot, and there were tears at the corners of her eyes, and Maddie checked something off in her notebook.

"Here's how it's going to go," she said. "You're going to go up onto your hands and knees, and I'm going to hit you. And it's going to be hard, and you're going to break position. Then you'll get back into position, and I'm going to hit you again."

That wasn't at all what Samantha wanted to do; she wanted to get dressed and eat ice cream and read a book.

But she also wanted to do what Maddie wanted, and she wanted to impress her with how well she'd come along, and she just . . . and she did like being hit, even if she wasn't that into it just at the moment.

She liked being hit, but not quite as hard as Maddie hit her. And like she'd said, she did break position with that first swat. And she was at the verge of tears as well, because . . . it hurt like hell, and it burned.

So she breathed in, and pushed herself back up to her hands and knees, and waited, trembling.

"Huh," said Maddie. And hit her again, just as hard. Samantha pushed herself back up to her hands and knees, and waited for the crop to fall again. Which it did. This wasn't one of those games where she was going to be rewarded by not being hurt for doing the right thing, but she was going to do it, even though she was crying and didn't want to and it hurt.

"That's a lot better than I expected, actually," said Maddie. She spread Samantha's thighs apart with her hand, pushed a finger into her cunt. Which was sore and uncomfortable and she inched away.

"And still refractory," said Maddie. "Which reminds me."

She rummaged around in her desk, took something out. "The thing about conditioning is that it's not actually that easy to condition people to avoid something that's intrinsically pleasurable. Otherwise we'd be able to make a fortune with dieting. And vaginal penetration is a bit fun."

The dildo was wider than anything that Samantha normally used, and she wasn't in the mood at all, and she bit her lip, and she took it.

"Because, right. I mean, if I'm looking at things focused on you, I'd probably limit your vaginal penetration. Probably to none at all? It seems more appropriate, you know? But if I'm looking at you as a sex object that I'm lending out, there are guys who like using a cunt more than an asshole or a mouth, and I don't want to disappoint them."

She moved the dildo out, and then in, and then again. "And while I can't reliably condition you to not enjoy it, I can . . . well, the goal is that you're going to be enjoying other things more. So hold it place, please, and I'm going to start hitting you again. Remember, when you get hit when you come back up to position."

There were more. It hurt. And when the dildo fell out, Maddie replaced it with a fatter one. And hit her again, and again.

Samantha kept rising up to meet it, and the next time the dildo came out, Maddie paused. "And now, no longer quite so refractory. Have fun?"

That was a question Samantha wasn't ready to face. She gave a sort of shrug, and buried her face in her arms, while keeping her butt up, where Maddie could hit it, if she wanted.

"Well, whether or not you did, you definitely performed to specifications, and seem to want more, so . . . it's more curiosity than a question of whether or not I'm going to keep doing this stuff to you."

That was actually kind of reassuring, but she still wasn't ready to decide whether or not it qualified as a good time. She gave another shrug, and Maddie patted her head. "Not a big fan of talking," she said. "Well, that's okay. For the best, really. Now, since you've been very good, and since you've been curious about where things are going, let's see if you can take a nap the way you're eventually going to be sleeping all night."

That sounded both interesting and frightening and like a good idea, because she'd been woken up a little early, and that whole session had left her kind of wrung out.

"The problem is," said Maddie, as she measured out lengths of rope, "that people don't sleep in one place; if you were actually as restrained as I'd like, it just wouldn't work--you'd be awake half the time, and sleepy the rest of the day, and sore, and so on. But there are compromises possible. There usually are."

The compromises in question meant that while her ankles were tied together and to the foot of the bed, there was a bit of slack there, and the same deal with the wrists. So she could turn over, and change her position a little, but it wasn't as though she could move very far. Also, there was a blindfold, and a well lubricated butt plug.

"Now, for naps, you're not going to tied up a lot tighter," said Maddie. "But once you're used to it, this is going to be the way you'll be set up at night."

"With the other collar?" asked Samantha, feeling a little uncomfortable without one of Maddie's undershirts next to her.

Maddie laughed. "No," she said. "Things will be a little more strict with the other collar. This is just where you're going as Samantha."

More strict?

"You'll let me know when I'm ready for that?"

"Again, no," said Maddie. "You'll let me know when you want to try it. And then I'll decide if you're ready, and if you are, I'll take you to a piercing place I know. Now shush, and take a nap; I've got some book-keeping to catch up on, and some politely nasty emails to send to clients who haven't paid what they're contractually obligated to pay."

She shushed, and then, a little later, she fell asleep.

There wasn't any way she was going to be able to sleep through the night that way, no matter what the name tag on her collar said. But she was able to drift off like that, and it left her feeling sort of proud of herself and comfortable when she woke up.

Only Maddie wasn't there when she woke up, or if she was there, she didn't seem to want to play with Samantha--the blindfold meant that she couldn't see her if she was there. So she lay there, and waited for Maddie to untie her and tell her what to do.

She'd been awake for a while, but the hand on her thigh still made her jump, which made Maddie giggle.

"Right," she said. "Next, we'll try something I've been considering. Hands and knees after you're untied, and no talking; we'll see how you do as a pet."

Even before she was untied, the plug in her ass came out, and another one went in, and this one had a fur tail attached. Which was soft, and which felt nice against her thigh. And which also made her feel a little silly.

There was a definite giggle in Maddie's eye when she let Samantha down from the bed. "Right," she said. "Now, heel; I'm going to watch TV, and you're going to keep me company."

Crawling behind Maddie felt right, and keeping her company sounded good.

Only it turned out that keeping her company meant chasing after a ball, over and over, as Maddie caught up on the second season of True Detective.

And crawling around the living room was harder than she expected, and made her knees hurt, and while it clearly wasn't in keeping in the spirit of the thing to use her hands, the ball kept rolling underneath things which her head wouldn't fit under.

Finally, instead of dropping the ball into Maddie's hand, when she crawled back to the couch, Samantha kept holding it in her teeth, and growled at her.

Maddie laughed. "Done with fetch?" she asked.

Samantha gave a little whine.

Maddie took hold of the ball, and wrestled it out of Samantha's mouth. "Lunch is over near the sink," she said.

Samantha crawled over, faster than she'd been going after the ball, because it'd been a long morning, and she'd had some water, a few crusts, and that was it.

Breakfast was a bowl of water, and a bowl of breakfast cereal, no milk.

It wasn't exactly what Samantha would've chosen for lunch, but she was really hungry. So she ate mouthfuls of cereal and took gulps of water, and watched Maddie watching TV.

Who looked good, and happy, and relaxed.

When she was done eating, she crawled back to Maddie, and nuzzled up to her feet.

"Good," said Maddie, who skritched her behind her ear. "Roll over."

Samantha rolled onto her back, and Maddie got off the couch, knelt next to her, and started rubbing her belly.

Which tickled, and she tried to keep the position she was supposed to keep while at the same time get away from Maddie's fingers, until those fingers brushed across her clit, at which point she was trying to get closer to Maddie's fingers.

"Well," she said, after a little bit. "Maybe for special occasions."

Maddie stood up, leaving Samantha lying on her back.

"Kneel, facing the couch," said Maddie, as she went to the kitchen. That tail-plug was still in her ass, which was getting increasingly sore, so she was pretty sure she was supposed to still be a pet, so she kept her hands on the floor as she knelt.

Maddie came back with a deli sandwich, that looked really, really good. Rye and corned beef and ham, and . . . "Like I said," said Maddie. "I'm interested in the substance of power, rather than the forms. You're hungry and you want some fresh bread and deli, and you are going to kneel there and watch me eat."

"Oh," said Samantha.

"Right," said Maddie. Then she ate the sandwich, while Samantha knelt there and watched. And when Maddie was done, she let Samantha lick her fingers clean. There were faint traces of mustard and pepper and maybe a little meat, but that was it. When she was done, she took Maddie's hand, and pressed it up against her face.

"Just so," said Maddie. "Lovely. And next. . . well, let's get that plug out, and you can go use the toilet, and then there were one or two other things that I meant to try out before Lisa gets back. My guess is that you're going to like one of them, but not the other one."

The plug was a little stinky when she got it out, but Maddie wiped it clean and sent Samantha to the bathroom. When she came back, Maddie had laid out several lengths of rope on the living room floor.

"Up on the coffee table," she said. "On your back."

Samantha wasn't sure if it was going to be the one she liked, or the one she didn't, and she wasn't sure which one sounded better. There was a . . . Maddie had made it pretty clear that she wasn't going to ease off before Samantha was done, and there was something really great about that.

On the other hand, she'd also made it pretty clear that when she said that Samantha wasn't going to enjoy something, it was going to hurt. Or spend her time not eating a sandwhich or something.

"Like I said, not that much fun," said Maddie, after she'd tied Samantha down "But not nearly as painful as some of the other things I've been trying. It's mainly a test of an idea that I've got to go along with the next collar."

The cuffs that Samantha was wearing were fastened to the table, but Maddie slipped another cuff over them, a little further up the wrist.

Which bit her.

"Ow!" said Samantha. It was nowhere near as bad as that beating in the morning had been, but it wasn't something she expected.

"Electric shocks," said Maddie. "Low intensity, low frequency. Because that's the thing--rewards help with conditioning, but if I wind up giving you actual rewards too often. . . well, it's not exactly what I'm thinking of for you. Wouldn't want you to get spoiled."

The cuff stung her again, making her jump a little--would've made her jump more, if she wasn't tied down.

"So this way, we can use the removal of a negative stimulus to reward you for sleeping the way I want, or fucking someone I want you to fuck."

"Oh," said Samantha.

"Exactly," said Maddie. "Now lie still, and I'm going to keep track of the frequency, and make sure that it's not causing either more or less pain than it's supposed to."

Samantha jerked again, as the electricity hit, and Maddie nodded, marked something down.

It didn't bite that often, and it didn't bite that hard, but it was enough that it was going to be hard to ignore. It certainly wasn't pleasant, and the idea of having that on all the time, except when she was getting a reward wasn't exactly a pleasant one.

"May have to lower the frequency when I get all four made," said Maddie, after watching her for a while. "Still, seems to be set at an appropriate levels. Next problem is battery life, so I'm afraid you're going to have to stay there for a while."

"Where do you get things like this?" asked Samantha.

"See," said Maddie, "that's one of the advantages of keeping up with research--nobody asks questions when you commission the weirdest things. I mean, it's not cheap, but they'll make what I ask them to make. Not going to pretend that publications don't look good on the resume and so on, but that's really the main advantage."

She put her notebook on Samantha's stomach, and started playing with her breasts. Just the sort of thing that she liked doing when she was bored, or thinking about something else--it was kind of like Samantha's breasts were her stress-ball.

"Interesting data thus far," said Maddie. "Though again, I'm really not sure where I'd be able to publish. And it's more of a case-study thing; I'd really need a larger experimental group, and a control group, if I wanted to be sure this was replicable."

"You'd probably need a bigger apartment, too," said Samantha.

"Yeah. Well, I'll put that in the grant application."

A pinch at her nipple, and then fingers down her side. Samantha bit back a moan, and flinched again when the cuff stung her wrist.

It was a little weird. She'd be able to take more without flinching, no question. She had taken more without flinching. But because it was an electric shock rather than a swat, and because it was firing randomly, and she couldn't tell it was coming, she jumped every time.

Maddie kept her there for an hour, sometimes playing with her, sometimes not, sometimes not even in the room. And when she finally took it off, Samantha was able to relax for the first time, basically since she'd put it on.

Which got a smile. "Seems to work, anyway," said Maddie, as she took the battery out, put it into a testing thing. "And it looks like it could stay on for a week or two without needing new batteries, which was what I was hoping for."

A week or two?

"If I wear these in to work," said Samantha, "people will think that I'm strung out on something."

"True," said Maddie. "But there are vacations."

There were, and that was a thought that she hadn't really considered. She hadn't been taking all her days, recently, not since she'd decided that going out to Indiana to be mad at her parents for a week was a poor use of her time.

Once Maddie untied her from the table, she spent a little while rubbing her wrist. It wasn't, like, burned or anything, but that had hurt, and she hadn't liked it, and it still felt sort of like it could be stung at any minute.

"Bedroom," said Maddie. "And also, when they'e being used, that shouldn't be a problem--you'll learn what sort of things turn the cuffs off, and you won't expect shocks when you shouldn't."

Comforting? Not . . . not that comforting. But interesting.

"Now, before the thing that you're going to like, a little more self-reporting on fantasies and so on. Let's get you set up."

It took a little while for her to relax into it, even with the white noise and the ropes and the blindfold and all that--this time, Maddie was using the riding crop on the soles of her feet when she wasn't talking quickly enough, and her feet hurt a lot before she was able to just say things without thinking about them, without even really hearing them.

Could have to do with having come three times in the morning, but it probably had more to do with the sort of stuff that Maddie had been talking about; it was hard to keep that out of her fantasies, and it was also hard to let Maddie know to what extent she was thinking about what she'd been told, and elaborating on it.

But in the end, she did--that's what she did when she was set up like that, lying on her stomach, plug in her ass, hips up on that pillow, vibrator on low when she was talking, riding crop on her feet when she wasn't.

It went on for a while, and then Maddie let her stop, but she didn't rearrange her. Just turned off the white noise, and lay down next to her.

Then came a low mechanical hum, and faint wet noises, a low moan from Maddie.

Oh.

"Please?" said Samantha.

"Hm?"

"Please can I . . . I'm right here, Maddie. Can you please use me for sex?"

"No," said Maddie. "Like I said, not with that collar. But you can be quiet, and listen, and enjoy. Here; I'll stay a little closer."

Maddie move a little closer; close enough that they were almost touching, that Samantha could hear every breath, feel every shift of Maddie's weight. Close enough that she could smell her arousal. Her hips started moving in time with Maddie's, even though she didn't have enough slack in the ropes to actually get herself off.

There was a long pause in Maddie's breathing, the hum of the vibrator louder and clearer, and then Maddie dropped back down onto the bed, breathing suddenly regular.

Samantha bit her lip, not entirely sure about what she was feeling.

"Open," said Maddie, and Samantha opened her mouth. Then Maddie pushed the vibrator in, still very wet. As Samantha sucked on it, Maddie untied her wrists and ankles, and retied them, so that Samantha was lying on her side, holding on to the vibrator as she sucked it, facing Maddie.

Who tapped her lightly on the nose, smiled, and then went to sleep.

It was. . . Maddie even tasted good, on that vibrator, and Samantha wanted . . . well, she wanted a lot of things. But what she did was lie quietly facing Maddie, sucking on a vibrator, until it tasted like nothing beyond the neutral taste of silicone, licked the last traces of Maddie's arousal from her fingers, and then went back to sucking the vibrator, watching Maddie sleep.

It wasn't that long a nap, probably--maybe a half hour? And it was sort of interesting to see Maddie liked that, relaxed, happy, sleeping. It was a good look on her.

When Maddie finally woke up, she gave Samantha another smile, untied her, and took the vibrator away from her. "Could be we'll start doing that more regularly," she said. "When you get a little closer to being ready for the next collar. Because if I'm going to be lending you out for people to fuck, I want you to be as good as possible at fucking."

"About that?" said Samantha.

"Yeah?"

"So do I get a veto, or--"

"Well, sure," said Maddie. "I mean, I'm not going to hold a gun to your head or anything. You have a veto on everything."

"Fine," said Samantha. "But that's not exactly what I was asking. It's just. . . I mean, in the rules for the Sandy collar, can I say no to fucking someone? If I don't like them or something."

Maddie considered. "Well, let's say yes, for now. I mean, if you wind up vetoing too many people, we'll have to renegotiate, but yeah. Samantha collar involves no sex with anyone, and orgasms from my hand. Sandy collar, sex with some people--people who I choose, but who you can veto, if you really have to. And it could be I'll lend you out for a longer period, but only to people who I trust, and who'll respect your limits."

"Okay," said Samantha. She wasn't quite ready to ask to get her nose pierced. Her nose pierced? That was . . . that was a big step, no question. But maybe at some point? In a while?

It certainly sounded like it might be fun.

More fun than what she had to do next, anyway, which was to scrub the floors and do the laundry, and then change out of her collar and cuffs and into gym clothing, to use the apartment's weight room and pool. By the time she was done with her shower afterward, Lisa was back, looking rumpled and tired.

"The thing about paperwork," she said, "is that there's too much work. And too much paper. And too much paperwork. I go sleep. Breakfast tomorrow noon?"

That seemed like a reasonable attitude and question.

"Sure," said Maddie.

"You guys have fun?"

"Yeah," said Maddie.

Lisa looked at Samantha, who blushed. "Yeah," she said. "Lot of fun."

"Good," said Lisa.

Then she stumbled into her room, and started snoring loud enough to be heard through the door.

"In theory," said Samantha, "I mean, she's not going to get up and--"

"No," said Maddie. "There are rules. Lisa's home, you keep your clothing on, everywhere except for the bedroom. Unless you're coming out of the bath, in which case, you can wear a towel. But now we're going to sit and watch some more TV, and then we'll go to bed."

That sounded pretty good; Maddie turned True Detective back on, and Samantha went and made some popcorn in the microwave, and brought it over.

There was plenty of room on the couch, but Samantha sat down on the floor next to her. Which seemed to be the right call--Maddie skritched her hair a little, and then just watched some high brow murder stuff that wasn't nearly as good as the first season, and which Samantha had come in at the middle, and couldn't quite parse.

And then it was time for bed, and the usual bed routine; edging for the camera, and then a long edging session, and then untied and time for sleep. Only this time, it was the wrist to the headboard again; it seemed like it was going to be there for then on in.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day was nice; they went out to the zoo, because Lisa had a date, and it was cancelled, and while she wasn't too disappointed about the guy cancelling, she had been looking forward to seeing the red pandas.

It was cold enough that the crowds were light, and it was nice to do something normal like that; or at least, mostly normal. Whether or not Samantha could say what her relationship with Maddie was, Lisa had a general idea of the sort of thing that they did behind closed doors, and that was way more information than anyone else had ever had about what she liked, as far as sex went. Probably more than a lot of Samantha's exes knew about what she liked, as far as sex went.

But mostly they were friends; it wasn't like she was getting them ice cream, or getting felt up in the Jungle World exhibit. Which wouldn't have been bad, necessarily, but it was nice to do normal people things. And also to go see the red pandas, because red pandas were awesome.

And when they were done doing normal people things it was nice to do the thing where Maddie tied her up, and then masturbated right next to her, and made her suck the vibrator clean. It was a nice relationship, and Samantha wasn't sure she wanted to do anything to disrupt it.

It took her about a month before she decided to do something to disrupt it.

"Maddie?" she said, after she'd had her Tuesday orgasm.

"Mm?"

"Can we go get my nose pierced?"

"Nose and nipples?"

Samantha hesitated, then nodded.

"No," said Maddie. "But . . . okay. Things have been moving along well--you have been sleeping through the night pretty much restrained, and that's great, and there are . . . well, there've been some changes that I've been looking for, and that I've seen. But first of all, you aren't ready, and second of all, are you sure this is something that you want to do?"

Samantha considered the question; it was a good one. "It's not, like, permanent or anything, right? I mean, it seems like it might be fun, and if I don't like it, I can always change my mind?"

"Sure," said Maddie. "But it is the sort of thing that builds on itself; the more that we do, the more that you're going to want to do. It's. . . I mean, it's already been changing you, but it's going to change you more, and a bit faster."

"Yeah," said Samantha. "But it also seems like it might be fun."

"That it does," said Maddie. "Although, there is another thing that's worth mentioning. Nipple piercings can take a lot longer to heal that most other piercings."

"Okay?"

"And when they're healing, you can't use the pool, or even take baths--not that you've been taking baths--and we can't do any sort of nipple play at all."

"Oh," said Samantha. "Well, I mean, I'll--"

"You don't get to come without the nipple clips on," said Maddie. "It's an important rule, and we're sticking with it. And . . . well, we'll be sure to take as good care as we can of those piercings, but it can take a long time."

"How long?"

"Maybe as long as a year," said Maddie. "I mean, it's probably going to be less than that--a lot of the slower healing shows up in women with much bigger breasts, and with people who are . . . well, it's not like I can know what's going to happen, but--"

"Okay," said Samantha.

"Okay?"

Samantha swallowed. "Okay," she repeated. "I'll do it."

"Nice," said Maddie. "It's probably just going to be a month or two, honestly. Next problem: While you're wearing the Sandy collar, you're going to be naked, so long as you're home. And that includes when C. J. is over, or if Lisa starts dating someone, and. . . well, it wouldn't be fair to them if you're around and available, but not available to them. So . . ."

Samantha bit her lip. She was still feeling floaty and happy after that orgasm, and she had a feeling that she was going to regret decisions that she made in that state. But being available sounded pretty good, actually. A month or two, or a year, before her next orgasm sounded less okay, but . . . but she could do it? Probably? 

"I do want to have sex, Maddie," said Samantha. "And if you're okay with me fucking C. J., that's--"

"Not okay with you fucking C. J.," said Maddie. "I'm okay with C. J. fucking you. There's a difference."

There was, but in either case, Samantha was going to be fucked, and she really wanted that. "But there's another thing?"

"Hm?"

"So I can put on those collars and take them off whenever I want, right?"

"Right," said Maddie.

"So if it winds up taking too long, I can take off both collars and go jerk off in the office bathroom, if I really need to?"

"Sure," said Maddie. "You can do that here, if you need to. I mean, not here, here--my bedroom, my rules. But if you need a break, you can always take one. In the bathroom. And if you want to sleep with clothing on or something, we can put a sheet and a pillow on the livingroom couch."

That wasn't something she'd thought about, but it made sense.

"Just let me know in advance, okay? So that I can get you a different soap and change the cues and all that."

"Deal," said Samantha.

Maddie hesitated. "Tell you what," she said. "I'll think for a bit about the other collar, and I'll let you know when you're ready for that. But we're going to step up your training--you've been doing well with the dildo, so there's that, but there's a bunch of other stuff that you're going to need to practice before I'm ready to show you off."

That sounded pretty good, actually. Then Maddie untied her from the position she was usually in when Maddie let her come, took off the clamps, which hurt coming off, like they always did, and tied her up for sleeping; blindfold on, wrists connected with a bit of slack, ankles connected with a bit of slack, and then to the head and foot of the bed.

Then Maddie's weight shifted, so that she was closer to Samantha, and there was the hum of the vibrator.

"Oh," said Samantha.

"Yeah, a little," said Maddie. "It's an exciting thought. But do be quiet, please, so that I can concentrate."

Samatha had just come. She'd just signed up for something that meant that she was going to spend a month or more--possible a lot more--without being able to orgasm. But her legs started squirming, just a little, rubbing against each other, as Maddie got herself off, and then passed Samantha the vibrator to suck on.

She fell asleep with that silicone cock in her mouth, and didn't wake up until the middle of the night, mouth dry, pillow soaked with drool, ankles and wrists tied loosely to the bed. More training? Being available and being used?

Could be she'd regret it. She'd already started regretting some of it. But at the same time, she was looking forward. It was great, what they were doing; it was really great. And the next thing would be better. That was the way these things seemed to go; even if she started off hating something, she'd wind up liking it by the time that Maddie was done. Not having those nipple clips on for months was actually a downside to the whole thing, and she remembered hating those. 

The training started the next night. As soon as Samantha had finished that first edge of the evening--which didn't take long at all, because of how excited she was--Maddie took out something that Samantha hadn't seen before.

"It's a fleshlight," said Maddie. "Generally speaking, they're used by guys who want to put their penis into something. And since I've been doing reasonably well in terms of consulting, I've spent a little extra to get one that is a custom molded reproduction of a genuine porn star's vagina."

"Okay?" said Samantha.

Maddie slapped her ass. "You mean, 'thank you'."

"Sorry," said Samantha. "Thank you?"

"You're welcome," said Maddie, changing Samantha's ropes a little, so that she could hold it, up on her hands and knees. "Now start licking."

Ah. Well, it made sense, maybe, though it wasn't exactly something that Samantha had expected. And after Maddie set up the cameras the way she wanted them, she sat down next to Samantha.

"Right," she said. "No, don't start off concentrating on the clit--a few licks, yes, and make sure that you get your lips on it, not just your tongue. But start lower down, work up to it. And fuck her with your tongue--it's not going to be as good as a vibrator, but it's a nice change."

Samantha tried to do what she was told, keeping an eye on Maddie.

"Not bad," said Maddie. "But you can do better; I mean, before you decided to be someone who was used for sex, rather than someone who had sex, you probably had people go down on you."

She had, but she'd been a little distracted at the time, and also, there was a difference between licking out a person, and licking out a latex tube, and there was--

"Right, but the problem is that you're paying too much attention to being able to breathe," she said. "Get in there as deeply as you can, Samantha, all the way--it's okay if your nose grinds in a little. Good! Now, find a rhythm--that's the key. Not quick little cat licks, either. Long, slow strokes. Suck on the clit a little, too. Also, when we let you use your hands, use them. Finger fuck her, hands moving on thighs, hands moving on her ass. I realize that the toy doesn't come with those, but think about it while you practice."

She did her best, and apparently, it was okay, because Maddie changed her position, so that Samantha was lying across her lap, and Maddie started slapping Samantha's ass as she worked on the reproduction of the porn star's vagina.

That felt really good. Really, really good. And the idea of being someone who was used for sex rather than someone who had sex. . . she was breathing pretty hard as she worked on that fleshlight, alternating between trying to fuck her tongue as deep inside as it would possibly go, licking and sucking at the thing's clit, and labia, and putting on a show.

"When I'm not around," said Maddie, "if you have free time, you can practice. Either with that, or with that vibrator I use. In fact, if you're feeling up to it, take one to work with you, and take a few minutes every day to practice in the bathroom."

That was . . . that seemed like a good idea, pretty much. And then the clips went on, and the plug went up her ass--the bigger one, that she had just worked her way up to, and she was allowed to orgasm, even though it wasn't Tuesday, and this time, with a dildo up her mouth as well.

"It's a problem," said Maddie, when she was done. "I mean, when the piercings have healed, that's going to be nice; increase sensitivity, keep less stringent clamps attached for a longer period, and so on. But it'll be a shame to keep you from orgasming for as long as that'll take. It's such a useful part of conditioning."

"Thanks?" said Samantha.

"You're welcome," said Maddie. "Well, time for you to go to sleep. I'll be up a little later, and then fuck with you for a bit."

"Oh," said Samantha, shivering slightly.

When she woke up, it was because a dildo was being rammed into her cunt. A big one, and it hurt, and she wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but it didn't take too long before she fell into the rhythm of it.

At which point the dildo came out, and Maddie started working some lube into Samantha's ass. "Just part of training," said Maddie. "It's more pleasant here, isn't it?" she asked, moving the dildo into Samantha's ass."

It was, actually. The fact that Maddie's hand had moved to Samantha's clit might have helped, and also the fact that she's started off dry, or--

Didn't really matter. It was nicer, and she made a pleased little noise, and enjoyed the feeling of the thing moving in and out, of the way she felt, tied up and naked and being used like that.

It wasn't for long, just enough to get her warmed up, then Maddie took it out, cleaned her off, and went to sleep next to her. "Good training to be woken up like that, too," said Maddie, sleepily, next to her. "I mean, if you're going to be spending time with guys, sometimes they get horny in the middle of the night. I mean, they'll have manners, most of the time, when they're dealing with girlfriends, but. . . "

And that was it; Maddie was asleep. But Samantha definitely wasn't. Maybe guys would have manners, most of the time, when dealing with girlfriends. But she wasn't going to be a girlfriend; she was going to be something else, entirely.

After that, it wasn't that Maddie changed things too much. There were still long edging sessions, still times when she had to talk about her fantasies and desires without being allowed to stop talking, so it became a stream-of-consciousness babble. There was also still an orgasm twice a week, and knowing that she'd signed up not to have them for . . . for up to a year? Was she crazy? Well, it made her come harder, so long as she was still allowed.

There weren't that any more times when Lisa was at the hospital all day, and both Maddie and Samantha had off--there was a Saturday, but Maddie had made a date with C.J., so Samantha spent the day in her room, mournfully licking out a fleshlight while watching the whole run of the Middleman.

Then came a night when Maddie called her out to the living room, because she wanted her to watch something on the big screen, rather than the laptop in the bedroom.

Samantha sat down on the couch, hoping that it was something funny. Maddie shook her head, and pointed at the floor.

Samantha blushed and sat where Maddie pointed, instantly turned on.

Then Maddie started the video; it was Samantha, edging. It looked like it was the first time that she'd done it, hesitant, a little frightened, stiff.

She blushed, buried her head next to Maddie's leg. "I know that it's a little embarrassing," said Maddie, pausing the video. "But it's important that you watch. I'd tie you up, but Lisa is home tonight, and rules are rules."

Samantha huffed, but turned back to face the screen, and watched herself get to the edge, then stop, left leg twitching uncontrollably. And then watched herself do it the next time. A little looser, her fingers dipping into her cunt as she rubbed, a little quicker. And then the next time, and then the time after that.

It was . . . it was really uncomfortable, watching herself like that, but Maddie made sure that she kept watching, pausing if she looked away, so she watched.

And watched herself change. The first few times, she'd been lying on her back, but later she switched to all fours, after Maddie had changed the rules about how she'd come. And then it was her elbows and knees, and she started pinching her nipples when she got close.

Maddie paused the video at that point, delighted. "See?" she said. "It took a little while, but remember how much you hated it when I hurt you there? And now it's part of the process."

Hot and cold and burning hot, and Samantha couldn't say what she felt. "Pretty great, I know," said Maddie. "But wait."

She waited, and watched. It was more like that, and at least it didn't take her that long to edge at that point? She'd get up on the bed, and she'd have one hand on her clit and the other on her breasts, and she'd gasp and writhe and her toes would clench, and then she'd stop, and then the next session would start.

And then Maddie paused the video, just as Samantha got close. "There," she said. It took a little bit for Samantha could see what she meant. And she'd been blushing basically the whole time, but that. . . that made her blush so hard she felt lightheaded. Her asshole had opened up. Not, like, impossibly wide. But the hole was open, instead of closed.

"That happens?" she asked.

"You've been trained to know what an orgasm feels like," said Maddie. "And that means that your asshole loosens up a bit when it feels one coming."

"I. . . that's a . . . what's the point here?" asked Samantha.

"Bunch of points," said Maddie. "First, you should be really proud of how far you've come; a lot of people would've taken a lot longer to get as far as you have. Next, that video was amazingly hot. If you want to make a little extra cash, we could put that up online; there are people who'll pay for porn like that."

That was something that she hadn't considered, and which she wasn't ready to consider.

"And finally, I think that you're about ready to proceed, if you want to; I'll be working in Midtown for the next few weeks, so if you want to go in for piercings, we can do that."

"Oh," said Samantha. She sat there, leaning against Maddie's leg, arms crossed over her chest, sort of hugging herself, feeling her heart beat, looking up at her thighs and ass up on that screen.

"Tomorrow?" she said.

"Sure," said Maddie. "Tomorrow. It'll be fun."

"Can I put the collar on now?" she asked.

"No," said Maddie. "After the piercings. That's the way it goes. But it's less than a day at this point, so you'll probably be able to manage.

"Yeah," said Samantha. "Probably."

"There is a thing, though?" said Maddie.

"Hm?"

"It's just that, at least according to Lisa, one of the things that'll help speed healing up is if you can keep your nipples clean and no pressure on them--or, as little pressure as possible. So if you'd want to take a few days off, or work from home?"

"Few days?" said Samantha.

"Well. I mean, a month would be better, but that's not a hundred percent practical. But the more care you take early on, the better off that you'd be, in terms of how quickly you'll be able to recover."

"I guess," said Samantha. "So, maybe not tomorrow. I'll let them know that I'd like to take next week off? And that'll mean the weekend, and maybe a few days out of the week after that I could work from home, but . . ."

"Hm?"

"Well, I mean, you'll be working, and Lisa is at the hospital like 90% of the time, and--"

"And you'll be lonely," said Maddie.

"And it's a new thing and I'm not going to be able to come, and--"

"And if someone tries calling you or something you're not allowed to talk, which is going to be a problem. Hm."

She scratched Samantha behind her ear, again. "Well, I tell you what; there's a lot of book-keeping that I need to catch up on, and there's someone who I know from school who's working on a textbook, and wanted me to write a chapter or two. And it is a new thing, and you'll be lonely. So when they give you that week off, I'll probably be able to work from home too."

Samantha leaned forward, and kissed Maddie's foot; that was something she was allowed to do, when she was feeling like she needed to. Part of developing a paraphillia, apparently, and also it felt right.

"Good luck getting the time off, though."

"Thanks," said Samantha.

"Also, I'm going to have to let a few people know what to expect when they come over, and I think I'm going to want a new lock for the bedroom. I mean, if we have a party or something, and you're wearing that collar, I don't want anyone wandering around looking for a place to put a coat, and taking that as an invitation. But I also don't want you to be able to lock yourself in and have privacy, because that's really not in the spirit of the thing. And there are one or two other things that I need to get. So let me know as soon as you know when you're getting that piercing done."

Samantha nodded, tense, and she stayed tense as Maddie led her back into the bedroom, and made her talk about her fantasies.

"Which is a thing that you're not going to have to do when you're Sandy. Not much talking at all, really. Also no furniture unless specifically instructed, and, in general, a lot less responsibility for things."

That sounded nice. Frightening, but nice. And nice because it was frightening. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that she had to wait until the end of the week before she could get those piercings?

The next day was a Tuesday, so there was a whole session, and an orgasm--probably her last one for a long while, because she had her week and a half off.

"What did you tell them?" asked Maddie, after Samantha had come out of the shower, and told her the news.

"That I was moved in with someone new, and that we were both taking some time off to work from home," said Samantha.

Maddie shrugged, and shook her head. "Your choice," she said. "But you do know that you're giving the wrong impression."

"Everything I said was true," said Samantha.

"And yet, the usual sort of assumptions don't apply."

Samantha gave an uncomfortable sort of nod.

"So long as it isn't you making those assumptions, though," said Maddie. "It's not my problem. And it shouldn't matter much. Anyhow, up on the bed, edge once, and we're going to get started. Lot to do, while I still can."

It seemed that Maddie wasn't thrilled about not being able to play with Samantha's breasts for a year, or however long it was going to take. So she took the opportunity to hit them with just about everything that she had in her closet, and then put the clamps on for longer than she ever had before.

"There," she said, when they were done, and Samantha was breathing hard, into a used bra. "Something to remember, when you're doing your edges from here on in."

That was a thought.

"This is a good idea?" asked Samantha, sleepily. "I mean, we can do something else, same symbolism, if you like?"

"Which won't interfere with your orgasms," said Maddie, smiling.

"Or . . . I mean, it's just a little frightening."

"I know," said Maddie. "It'll go fine. And it might be just a few weeks, anyway; unlike a lot of people, you'll have a personal physician available for daily inspections."

She would. Lisa was a radiologist, which meant that she'd learned how to be a normal doctor first, and just never planned on doing that sort of thing again. But plans, it seemed, changed.

Not Maddie's plans, obviously. Other people's plans changed.

When Thursday came around, Maddie met her at work, downstairs, looking like that sort of frightening grown up businesswomen that she looked like, when she was dressed up for work.

"Here," she said, passing her the white collar, with the Samantha name take. "Put it on, and we can go."

"Put it on?"

"Sure," said Maddie. "Help make things clear for the piercing people, anyway, and it'll let you know why you're doing what you're doing."

"I don't know," said Samantha, looking around. She'd left at five on the dot, which meant that everyone else was going to working for at least another hour or two. But the guard at the door would see, and then on the subway, or--

"If you don't want to," said Maddie, "you don't have to. But it'd be hot."

She put the collar on, and followed Maddie out of the building. And then into a taxi, which took them down to Greenwich Village, and to a tattoo place, which was a storefront between a juice bar and a non-juice bar.

"Hey Maddie," said the receptionist, a pretty girl with a lot of rings and studs, and one arm completely covered in flower petal tattoos. "Someone new?"

"Hi Kaya," said Maddie. "Not that new. We have an appointment?"

"Yeah," said Kaya. "Barry'll do the work, if that's okay?"

"Absolutely," said Maddie.

The place was clean, though the decor was a bit . . . well, most of their business was probably tattoos, not piercings, so the decor was a bit aimed at the sort of people who liked tattoos.

"Okay," said Kaya. "You know where to put her; I'll get the consent forms, and Barry's going to want her to answer questions. Herself."

"Sure," said Maddie. "I mean, it's her body, after all."

"Is it?" asked Kaya.

"In a way," said Maddie. "But I definitely don't want her to agreeing to anything that she doesn't entirely understand."

Barry was like Kaya, but white, and bearded, and with skyscrapers on one arm, and Alice in Wonderland stuff on the other arm.

"Nipples and septum, right?" asked Barry.

"Same as usual," said Maddie. "It's a good start, wherever you're going."

"If you say so," said Barry. "Now, here's the thing--Samantha?"

"Hm?"

"This is going to be kind of a commitment, you know?" he said. "I mean, they'll heal, if you change your mind about wanting a piercing, but that's going to take a while?"

"Yeah," said Samantha.

"Maddie's pretty clear on the whole recovery and care process--"

"And we have a room-mate who's a doctor," said Maddie, who was standing next to them.

"Right," said Barry. "But if you wind up breaking up with Maddie, stop by, and we'll go through the aftercare procedures, whether you want to keep them or have them heal up."

"Sounds good?" said Samantha. It actually did, a bit--knowing that there were options. And it was just like, a nose piercing. At least, that's the part that people would see, if she decided to end things with Maddie. It wasn't like her nipples had been getting much attention before she'd started with Maddie, so . . . whatever. It would be fine.

Then they went to piercing room, which was a bit like a dentist's office, and Barry made sure to show them the clean spore test results for the autoclave, and then Samantha had to take her shirt off, and sit down in the chair.

The piercings hurt. They all hurt; Barry did the nose first, which just hurt, but then came the nipples--he used a sort of tweezer thing to pull on them, and then it was . . . it felt like a really hard pinch, with a needle, and she squirmed as he did it.

Maddie had spent a lot of time explaining what she was doing, and Samantha had more or less understood it. Which was why she didn't have any confusion about why she was turned on by that, but which didn't stop her from being embarrassed about being turned on by that.

The pain didn't stop when the tweezers were pulled back. When she looked down at her chest, there were gold rings in her nipples, and there was a strange weight in her nose.

"Mirror?" asked Maddie, and Barry held one up.

It wasn't a huge nose ring; it was an unornamented gold circle, just like on the nipples, and she looked . . . well, she looked a bit sexier, maybe? Different, certainly. Also, there was a bit of blood, but that seemed like the sort of thing that was to be expected.

"Okay?" asked Maddie.

"Okay," said Samantha.

"Good," said Maddie, as Barry put some oversized bandaids on over Samantha's nipples. "I'm going to go pay. Don't touch the piercings, put your shirt back on, and then we have a couple of other appointments."

Other appointments? And also, this wasn't the first time that Maddie had done this sort of thing?

None of that was quite as immediately relevant as trying to get her shirt back on without touching her nipples. Maddie had picked out a cotton shirt that was a little tighter than Samantha would've thought was ideal, but it seemed to give a little bit more in the way of actual support?

By the time she'd gotten it on, Maddie was ready to go.

"So," said Samantha, a bit shakily. "They seem to know you."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "It's not like I'm there that often, but it seems like I'm memorable."

"Not going to argue with that," said Samantha. "So you've done this sort of thing before?"

Maddie gave her a sidelong look. "And you're upset that I've got some experience, rather than just trying out things to see if any of it works?"

"Not upset, exactly," said Samantha, who was feeling a little upset. "More . . . disoriented?"

"Fair enough, I guess," said Maddie. "And you have questions, I assume."

"Yeah, I--"

"I'll give you some broad outlines, but not too much detail," said Maddie. "I mean, when I tell you that the videos and so on aren't going to be released unless you say so, I mean it, and this is sort of the same thing, but with other people."

That was at least a little comforting. "Right," said Samantha. "So, broad outlines?"

"First was my highschool boyfriend, second was a roommate, then there were a few other guys. You're the first girl, if that makes you feel special?"

It kind of did, a little? "Do I know any of them?"

"Maybe," said Maddie. "But that's getting into private stuff."

"Fine," said Samantha. "Are you. . . do any of them still see you, or--"

"You probably would've noticed," said Maddie. "No."

"So how did they end?"

"They ended," said Maddie. "Most recent one--guy I met on tinder--what he wanted was close enough to what I wanted that the once a week thing worked, but nothing more than that. And then he got something closer to what he was looking for, so it ended. The one with the roommate was more of a dating thing, and it ended awkwardly and . . . it was the sort of breakup where there are still aftershocks."

Samantha had always been more interested in the humanities than in the hard sciences, but she was pretty sure that there had been more than three listed, and Maddie had only told two stories. And she didn't seem to be going on.

"And the highschool boyfriend?" she asked, finally.

"Well," said Maddie. "Okay. That was definitely a dating thing, and it definitely ended. But I'm not sure how to define it. I mean, does it count as a breakup when the guy's new boyfriend pays you for him?"

Samantha swallowed, and didn't ask anything else, as they went down into the subway, and got on the IRT. "So, um--did he start off straight?" she asked.

"You'd have to define your terms a little better," said Maddie. "I mean, for some values, he's still straight. I mean, he sucks cock and gets his ass fucked a lot, and has a sexual response, but at the same time, it's . . . point is, I'm a bit too much of a behaviorist to really be able to talk about what straight is, really."

"But you can't--you can't pray the gay away, and--"

"It wasn't prayer," said Maddie. "And I don't know if you can use conditioning to make guys straight--there are a lot of cues steering men towards heterosexual behavior, so if someone is exhibiting homosexual behaviors, those are probably going to be resistant to most conditioning. Even if I was interested in making boys less gay, which I'm not, I wouldn't want to try it. The other way around, it's not like I had a statistically significant sample. But I definitely conditioned guys to get boners when they had cocks in their mouth; whether or not that means that they weren't gay beforehand and are gay now, I don't know. Buyers are satisfied, anyway. On a regular basis. Anyhow--here's our stop."

"Speaking of which," said Samantha, following her out, feeling a little wobbly. "Where are we going?"

"Clinic," said Maddie. "I'm going to be offering you to some people for fucking, and before we do that, I'm going to want to be able to show them a clean bill of health."

That made sense, and also was tremendously embarrassing, and also her nipples still hurt, which mean that she was still turned on enough that it was going to be immediately apparent when someone was going to examine her.

And it turned out that even though she hadn't been very sexually active recently--or at least, she hadn't been the sort of sexually active which could transmit disease--Maddie made sure that she got the whole battery of STD tests--blood, and urine, and close inspection of her genitals and anus. And then she got a bit of a talk where the woman examining her made sure that her relationship wasn't abusive--or at least, wasn't nonconsenually abusive, because once she was up in the stirrups, there were bruises there that made it clear that she was getting some sort of abuse.

Fortunately, it seemed that Maddie had found a kink-aware clinic, which almost certainly wasn't in-network, but which Maddie was paying for, same as the piercings. Once the doctor was clear on what sort of activities were planned, and that Samantha wasn't being forced into anything, the examination went relatively smoothly, without too many uncomfortable questions. Once that was done, she was able to get dressed again, and head out with Maddie.

"And the people who you're going to have me fuck?" asked Samantha, when she was done.

"Absolutely going to have to go through the same thing," said Maddie. "And I'm going to have to be convinced that they're not the sort of people who'll fuck other people without telling me. I mean, yes, for the most part we'll be practicing safer sex, but dental dams just aren't a great option and . . . Anyhow. I had sort of been thinking of taking you to a hairdresser or something, but you've spent enough time getting ready, and it's just about time for us to give this thing a try."

"Sounds good," said Samantha. "Mostly."

Maddie's lips quirked up in a smile. "Fair enough," she said. "And if you want to stick with the Samantha collar, or switch back to it, or go with no collar at all, that's fine. You know that, right?"

"Yeah," said Samantha. "You've been pretty clear."

"Good," said Maddie. "I mean, Lisa'll be a little disappointed if you're not going to spend at least a little time as Sandy tonight, but--"

There was a thrill at that. Lisa was going to. . . "and you?" she asked.

Maddie gave a shrug, as she flagged down a taxi. "Looks like you're headed in the direction I want you headed. You'll get there, sooner or later," she said. "I've got patience. And unlike Lisa, I'm more interested in--"

They got their taxi, and Maddie gave the address.

"It's sort of like this," said Maddie, leaning back. "If I was using you for sex, right, the sort of interest I had would crest, and then I'd be done, at least for a little while. But that's not what this is about, so I'm not going to be that excited about a shift, and I'm not going to ease off when I'm done."

Another, different sort of shiver. "But you are going to be . . . I mean--"

Maddie was quiet, and looking amused. And the taxi driver looked like he was more or less focused on driving, but he almost certainly wasn't.

"Are you going to be using me for sex with the Sandy collar?" she asked, finally. What the hell; it wasn't like it mattered if some guy knew what was going on. She'd never see him again.

"Still haven't entirely decided," said Maddie. "Probably not, though. Maybe with the next collar."

"Maybe?" said Samantha. "Next collar?"

"Yeah," said Maddie. "I mean, you're not going to be feeling particularly deprived when it comes to sex, unless you're way more insatiable than I'd expect. And I'll be around, to make sure that everything goes the way I want it to go. Better if I stay clear-headed about things. It's easy to go off the rails, once sex gets involved."

"Next collar?" repeated Samantha. "What else is there?"

Maddie shook her head. "Not even sure there's going to be a next collar. But there might be, and depending on what the rules of that collar are, I might wind up using you."

The taxi ran a yellow . . . well, ran a red, really, but at least it was the beginning of a red. Could be he wasn't paying enough attention to the lights, could be he was just a taxi driver who didn't give a shit. Either way.

"But--"

Maddie put her hand on Samantha's arm. "Don't worry," she said. "That's a long way off if it's going to happen at all."

The Sandy collar had been a long way off too, and now it was time for that. So . . . well, it didn't bear thinking about. Or maybe it did? But--

But they were back, and Samantha followed Maddie upstairs, and then got undressed. There were new cuffs in her drawer, and that collar with the name tag that said 'Sandy.'


	6. Chapter 6

Samantha put the cuffs and collar on, and then crawled out to the living room. Where Maddie and Lisa were sitting.

"You'll look at the piercings?" asked Maddie.

"Sure," said Lisa. "But first--"

But first, the cuff on Samantha's left ankle gave her a shock. It was a little stronger than the electric toys that Maddie had been using; her leg jerked, muscles tensing.

Nobody paid much attention; there was maybe a little smile from Maddie.

"First, I'd like to go through the rules with Sandy," said Maddie.

"Before we get to that," said Lisa. "Let's talk about my rules for your pervert sex games in my apartment."

Maddie considered, then nodded. "Fair enough," she said.

"First rule," said Lisa. "No fucking in the living room, or kitchen."

"What?" said Maddie. "Oh, come on. You have a girl who'll lick you out whenever you want--why do you--"

"Because I do not need to see your boyfriend's hairy ass pumping when I'm trying to eat dinner," said Lisa. "I mean, okay--Samantha--"

"Sandy," said Maddie, firmly.

"Fine. Sandy's cute, and she's paying her share, and I've already agreed to having her crawl around naked. But at least with the way you're keeping her, I'm not going to be picking pubic hair off the couch."

"She's not even allowed on furniture unless someone's hurting her," said Maddie.

"Whatever. Point is, she's the only one who's nude in public spaces."

"What about for sex parties?"

Sex parties? And Lisa was frowning, but not objecting to the idea, which meant that--

"If you absolutely have to have a sex party," said Lisa. "You let me know in advance. Like, a lot in advance. And you let me know what's going to happen, and if I don't like that, you change your mind, or you keep the party in the bedroom."

"Sure," said Maddie. "I mean, there are. . . it'll be great. You'll love it."

"Fine. Bathroom stays clean, and you guys don't use it for excessive amounts of fucking or whatever while I'm here, because I do not want to wait to poop until someone orgasms."

"Right," said Maddie. "If you want her to help you when you're bathing, let me know--the electric bits on the cuffs are waterproofed, and--"

And another one shocked her. Right wrist. Another jerk of muscles, a faint whimper. Nobody was listening.

"Maybe," said Lisa. "You can tell me your rules about using her after I'm done. Last thing: when someone comes to the door, Saman. . . Sandy is out of sight."

"What about C. J.?" said Maddie. "Or anyone else who I'm going to let fuck her?"

Lisa sighed. "Guys who are fucking her aren't the problem. The problem is guys who I might be interested in, or girls I might be interested in, or friends who aren't in on your games, or relatives, or . . . you know. Normal people. The UPS guy. I don't want to lose my job, or get a reputation as--"

"As the sort of perv who fucks her roommate’s sex-slave. Got it. Although, if you're going to be dating someone, sooner or later, you're going to have to mention that you're fucking her, and they're going to have to get tested, because otherwise I'm not going to let you have unprotected sex with Sandy."

"Like I have time for dating." Lisa sighed, and shook her head. "I don't know how you talked me into this."

"It was complicated," said Maddie. "As I recall, I pointed out that you like having sex, and haven't had any for a while. Anything else?"

"If I think of it, I'll let you know."

"Fine," said Maddie. "My turn. Here's the controller. If you're not using it, clip it to the back of her collar. Default is that she's going to be getting maintenance level shocks. If you want to lock her in her cage, turn that off."

"Cage?" asked Lisa.

"Where she goes when you invite the UPS guy in for a chat, so you can start dating again. Or for sleep--there's one in the hall closet, and there's one in my bedroom. Can't miss them."

She was going to be sleeping in a cage in the hall closet? At least the cuffs would stop shocking her, anyway.

"Point is, if you want to reward her for something, you can turn it off. But not for too long--it's got to be a standard background thing, to make the rewards work better. I'm not letting her come without nipple clips on, so it's going to be a while before she's going to be allowed. If she gets you off, though, push the button that gives a twenty minute pause, and make sure she's lying down with her face near one of my used bras for those twenty minutes."

"What?"

Maddie sighed. "I know!" she said. "I know. Evidence for human receptiveness to pheromones is so tenuous it's practically superstition. But odors are strongly associative, and I've been working on connecting this to orgasm for her. Since she can't come until the piercings are fully healed, I'm going to try substituting orgasms she gives for orgasms she has. So when she finishes you off, she gets a refractory period, lying down comfortably and with no pain, and all the other cues that I've been using to let her know that sex has ended satisfactorily. So once you start hurting her, I want you to ease up on that after she gets you off."

"What makes you think that I want to hurt her?"

"Observation and analysis. Oh, also--she's not allowed on furniture, except for the coffee table. But when you start with incorporating pain into your sex life with her, put her on a chair or something before beating her up; that's an association I want to encourage."

Lisa gave Maddie a look. "You're a scary lady, you know," she said.

"Maybe a little," said Maddie.

"Maybe a little," said Lisa. "I swear to God, this would actually make more sense if it was all part of a plan to kill Batman and poison the city's water supply."

"Fair enough," said Maddie. "If that Bat-jerk foils my schemes one more time, I'll . . . anyway. I think that's all you need to know. Try not to leave bruises that'll raise too many questions, and no permanent alterations. She likes having her butt spanked, and while she's allowed to talk in order to answer questions, I'd rather you didn't ask too many. Now, in terms of things that you have to know, Sandy."

Maddie paused, considering. "Okay, no standing except if you're specifically told, same deal with furniture and talking. If you happen to come without permission or forget and stand up or something like that, you either come to me right away and let me know, or send me a text. There'll be a bowl of food and water in the kitchen. If they're empty and you’re hungry or thirsty, you can stay there and whine. At the moment, C. J. and Lisa can use you for sex--I've got their test results in my desk, if you need to see that--so let them do what they want. If you're lonely and want sex, you can kiss their feet and see how they respond."

That was a lot of rules, and some of those were pretty hot.

"Good," said Maddie, when Samantha didn't make any response. "Now, up on your knees, and Lisa will take a look at your piercings."

She went up on her knees, and winced as the bandages came off.

Lisa's touch wasn't any more sexual than Barry's had been, but it still hurt, and this time, Samantha knew that she was going to be having sex with her pretty soon after and . . . and she was gasping, and knew that she was flushed.

"Seems okay," said Lisa. "Take a little while to see if there was any sort of infection, but assuming that he was professional, there shouldn't be any from the needle. Not bleeding, which is good; I guess you can go with a saline soak at this point."

"Right," said Maddie. "Okay; this is sort of a fun part. Hands and knees, in front of the couch."

Samantha went down on her hands and knees, and waited, as Maddie went into the kitchen, and got something. Two things. Bowls of water, filled to the top. The water was warm, and it felt nice, after Maddie set them up so that her boobs were dipped into the water.

"Oh, and one more thing," said Maddie, and then got a dildo with a suction cup on the base, and attached it to the floor, where Samantha could suck on it.

"Three times a day?" said Maddie, sitting down.

"Three times a day," confirmed Lisa. "Not for more than ten minutes, though."

"Deal," said Maddie, and put her feet up on Samantha's back. After a little while, Lisa put her feet up as well, on her shoulders.

"Tell me this isn't great," said Maddie.

Lisa snorted. "It's fine, Madame Scarecrow."

"Pff," said Maddie. "It's not like I'm giving her any drugs at all," she said. "I mean, she can't even have alcohol until those piercings heal up."

"Yeah, but if you had fear gas--"

"Sure. If I had fear gas, I'd use it to help with my sex-adjacent projects. Who wouldn't? But I don't have fear gas, and you're not even going to implant electrodes in people's brains for me, so it's not like it matters."

Lisa was quiet, and then laughed. "If I was willing to put electrodes in people's brains, you wouldn't go for it," she said.

"Yeah," said Maddie. "I mean, I'd want to, but I haven't even gotten electrolysis for any of my projects. It's important to be able to think that you can undo stuff. At least while I'm in charge."

"Wimp."

"What, I'm a batman villain and a wimp?"

"They usually are," said Lisa. "Or they'd just shoot him. Anyhow; that's probably enough time for the soak."

The feet on Samantha's back pulled away. "Up," said Maddie, and then Lisa cleaned her off with a sterile gauze--it seemed that Samantha was going to have to do that herself most of the time, and the sterility was important--and then they were done. With the nipple piercing. Next came the nose piercing.

"The thing is," said Lisa, after Samantha was set up, and their feet were back up on her, "you can do this with a wet cotton swab, instead of trying to breathe with your nose in a bowl of saline."

"True," said Maddie. "But this is funnier."

She got off the couch, though Lisa kept her feet up on Samantha's shoulders, and then crouched down behind her, and started working her fingers into Samantha's cunt.

She jumped, a little, and knew that she was blushing hard enough that Lisa could see it.

Lisa was going to fuck her; that was the whole plan, really. But it was. . . well, she'd been doing what she was supposed to, and nobody had made a fuss about it when she'd come out naked, but now it was sinking in, and this was sex, and Maddie was doing it to her, and Lisa had her feet up on Samantha's back while Maddie was doing it to her, and--

"It'd be kind of funny if I got her to breathe in wrong," said Maddie.

"Kind of," said Lisa. "But I'm not entirely sure aspirating water--saline or otherwise--is a good idea, overall."

"Fine," said Maddie. "Don't drink with your nose, Sandy." But she didn't stop what she was doing; once her fingers were wet enough, she moved up to Samantha's clit, and started working it, slowly, making her have to concentrate hard on breathing right. And on the occasional zaps from the cuffs on her wrists and ankles. She was distracted enough that it felt like she was about to collapse each time one of those hit.

After what seemed like forever, Maddie stopped, and gave Samantha's pussy a sharp slap. "Good enough," she said. "So--want her here?" she asked. "I mean, I don't mind if you're the exception to the no sex in public places rule--in fact, I'd prefer that, so she doesn't get the sense that she's safe or something when she's in the living room, but--"

"But not today," said Lisa. "I'm not even entirely sure I want you in the bedroom with us, but--"

"But whether or not you want me, you've got me," said Maddie. "At least at first. Lot of associations that I want to keep clear for the moment, and there are things that you might forget, in the heat of the moment. That's the deal, right?"

Lisa sighed, got up, and headed towards the bedroom with Maddie. And Samantha crawled along behind them as quickly as she could manage, which wasn't that fast--it wasn't that easy to crawl quickly.

She'd never actually been in Lisa's room. It wasn't that much like Maddie's--no carpet, the furniture wasn't as nice. And there was a fantasy looking map up on the wall, and a bookcase with, like, D&D stuff in it.

Wasn't something that Lisa talked about much, but then, she mostly was working, or sleeping, or just hanging out half-way between working and sleeping.

Wasn't really the point.

"Because of the nose thing," said Maddie, "She can't really show you all she knows. You feel any contact with her nose, you push the punishment button on the control. And since you're going to be a bit distracted, I'm going to handle keeping her stimulated for now."

Lisa shook her head. "This is group sex, and I said that I wasn't interested in that."

"You said that you weren't interested in that yet, and also I'm going to be keeping my clothing on. I'm not even going to be taping this, so I'm already losing data."

Lisa looked a little uncertain.

"Up on the bed, Sandy," said Maddie, and they watched her climb up onto the bed, which was a little harder than Maddie's. "Lisa's not entirely convinced about this, so go ahead and edge once; nothing sets the mood like frustrated masturbation."

"What about Barry White?" asked Lisa, as Samantha started fingering herself.

"This is fucking, not romance," said Maddie. There was a beanbag chair next to the desk, and she dropped down into it. Lisa shrugged, and sat down in the desk chair, turning it around to watch.

Samantha's cheeks burned, and she looked away, straight ahead, at Lisa's headboard.

It was . . . she wasn't allowed to touch her breasts at all, and she had to keep her head up so that her nose didn't get pushed into the bed, and there wasn't anything in her ass. Which felt a little weird, actually. Her nipples did ache, though. It wasn't exactly the same as being pinched--it was less pleasant, definitely. But those rings were moving, as she rocked back and forth, and it hurt.

"See?" said Maddie. "She knows she's not supposed to touch her breasts, but she really wants to. Watch how that left hand is twitching."

"Uh," said Lisa. "Yeah."

"You know, she didn't even like nipple play when we started; she's coming along great."

Lisa didn't reply, and Samantha tried to concentrate on what she was doing, and not on her left hand. She wasn't allowed to touch her breasts, and there wasn't anything in her ass, but she could imagine it. Clamps on her nipples, and a plug in her ass . . . and a cock in her ass, thrusting hard, and a hand on her nipple, and her face in Lisa's . . .

She pulled her hand away, and tried to catch her breath.

"Want her to do that again, or ready to go?" asked Maddie.

"Once more," said Lisa, her voice thick. "That was pretty great."

"Take a minute, Sandy," said Maddie. "And stretch it out, put on a show."

"Has she orgasmed when she wasn't supposed to?" asked Lisa.

"Once or twice," said Maddie. "The thing is that it's been linked with immediate consequences."

"Severe?"

"Well, yeah, because I like doing that. But that's not the important thing. I mean, when there's a natural connection--like if you want to train someone not to eat something, food will connect with upset stomachs, even if it takes like a day and a half between eating and upset stomach. But there's no natural connection between an orgasm without permission and a whipping, so it's got to be right away. I mean, the ideal interval is like, sixty milliseconds, so that doesn't happen, but the quicker the better."

It had happened three times, and she'd felt awful each time. And there'd been a whipping immediately afterwards, and not one of the gentler ones. It was worse because she'd just come, even if it was an unsatisfying sort of orgasm, and Samantha really didn't like thinking about that.

Although thinking about it had calmed her down a little, so she started again, eyes closed, moving slowly.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a hand on her ass, and then Maddie put a blob of lube on her asshole, and started working it in.

"Huh," said Lisa. "Likes that."

"Yeah," said Maddie, who sounded proud. "C.J. is going to love that; he's been making those mid-relationship hopeful noises about anal for a while. And now that Sandy's going to be around, he'll have someone enthusiastic about it whenever he wants."

"Nice," said Lisa.

Samantha had been moving slowly, but there was something about that sort of conversation that made Samantha's breath catch in her throat, and made her thighs clench. She was being talked about like she wasn't there, and about how other people were going to fuck her, and she was going to be useful. It was . . . her hand pulled away, trembling.

"Again?" asked Maddie. "Or--"

"That'll do," said Lisa. "Lemme get--"

"Face forward, Sandy," said Maddie, pushing the plug into place. Samantha gasped, pushed back against it.

The cuffs had been stinging her throughout--each time it hurt, and each time she jumped, but it was almost like she was getting used to it. Not used it; she was still jumping. But--

But Lisa was there, and Maddie gave her the little slap on her butt that meant that she was supposed to go ahead and do something. In this case, Lisa.

Samantha crawled around to where Lisa was lying, took a deep breath. She was still wearing a shirt, but her pants were off. Lisa's thighs were a little pudgier than hers, and there was a spiderweb vein on her thigh, and that all didn't matter, not even a little. Samantha's hips were moving without any thought, and she was practically drooling with eagerness to get started.

It tasted different than the latex had, and the hair was a little unpleasant, but as soon as her lips touched Lisa, Maddie pressed the vibrator up against Samantha's pussy.

The hair was a little unpleasant, and it got in the way, and she couldn't push all the way in, like she'd been trained to do, and she couldn't even lie down on Lisa's legs, because that would put pressure on the nipple rings. But it tasted a lot better than latex, and there was the way that Lisa arched up to meet her when she pushed down, and there was the feel of skin against skin, the way Lisa's thighs felt where she was touching her, the noises Lisa was making.

"If you want her to slow down," said Maddie, "use the punishment button."

Lisa gave a half grunt, and suddenly, all the cuffs shocked Samantha at once. She gave a strangled little yelp, pulled away. Then Maddie's hand was at the back of her head, pushing her back into Lisa's crotch. "Means slow down, Sandy, not stop."

She slowed down. What she wanted to do was to push all the way in, and to hell with the piercings and the shocks and everything. But she didn't; she slowed down, like she was told.

Maddie kept on with the vibrator, and then Samantha had to signal that she was close. Lisa gave a throaty little chuckle at that.

"Once you're able to handle her on your own," said Maddie, "that's a signal that you have to know. I mean, whether or not you turn it off, she gets punished for coming without permission, but at least for the moment, I haven't been forcing her to do things that deserve punishment."

"Whatever," said Lisa. "Just funny." Then her hands were in Samantha's hair, pulling her in a little tighter.

"If you want to give her a reward, press the green button."

Samantha licked, slower, like she'd been told, like Maddie had made her do to that sex toy. And eventually there was a sort of vibrating buzz from the cuff on her left wrist, instead of those occasional shocks.

"It'll take a while, but eventually she'll learn that it means no shocks from that cuff for ten minutes. Except for the punishment button, of course." said Maddie. "You're doing fine, Sandy."

"She's got . . . stamina, anyway," said Lisa.

"Absolutely," said Maddie. "Didn't give her that collar until she could lick a fleshlight for at least two hours at a time. She'll last as long as you like."

"Good," said Lisa.

After a while, Maddie got off the bed, and sat down . . . somewhere; the only way that Samantha knew that she was still in the room was the way the vibrator turned off when she made the noise that meant that she was close.

Ever so often, Lisa would shock her, and Samantha would slow down. Like Maddie had said, she'd spent hours working on that toy, so it wasn't like she had problems taking a long time, but she wanted . . . she wanted to do a good job and impress everyone, and she also wanted to make Lisa come.

Finally, when she moved a little faster, pushed a little harder, Lisa didn't shock her, and moved a little faster herself, pushed a little harder.

Lisa came hard, and long, and there was a taste that was a little different than it had been, as she came loose.

"Good!" said Maddie. "Click 'pause', now."

There wasn't anything different. Lisa was lying on the bed, gasping, so it was Maddie who moved Samantha off the bed to the floor, and who put an undershirt next to her face.

"She's going to need a little time," said Maddie. "If you want to nap, that's--"

"Nah," said Lisa, "Just let me get a change of clothing." Then she got up, and nudged Samantha with her foot. "You did good," she said, and Samantha gave a pleased little shrug, tucked herself in a little tighter.

Maddie put a blindfold on her, attached the cuffs to Lisa's bed, so that she was lying stretched out on her back.

"We've been stopping sex when she had an orgasm," she said. "And since she can't come for months, maybe more than a year, we're going to substitute other people's orgasms for hers. Whenever someone comes in her or on her, she gets a little break, and a nap. Twenty minutes, which is her usual refractory interval, before you can use her again."

"So you've said, and you're still frightening," said Lisa. "Well, whatever; I've gotten what I wanted. I'm going to shower; Game of Thrones and takeout afterwards?"

"Deal," said Maddie, and the two of them left Samantha on the floor of Lisa's room.

It wasn't the same as an orgasm. Could be that Maddie would eventually make it feel like an orgasm, but more likely not; Samantha's hips were still thrusting a little, and her pussy still ached. She wanted to come, which wasn't how she felt after an orgasm.

But . . . but it was a bit like it. She did want to come, but she didn't want to come as badly as she had a minute or two earlier. And she felt relaxed, and a little sleepy, which was sort of how she felt after she had come.

It was a little weird, the way that even after Maddie explained what she was doing, and how it was going to work, that it worked anyway, pretty much exactly the way she described it.

Samantha woke up with a yelp, as her wrist was shocked.

"Good," said Maddie, from the living room. "Give me a second, and I'll get you untied."

So Samantha lay there and waited until her cuffs were detached from the bed frame, and she was allowed to crawl out. To the bathroom, which she needed.

She hadn't locked the door, and Maddie came in while she was on the toilet, and frowned.

"I said no furniture," she said, and then all the cuffs shocked Samantha at once. She scowled up at Maddie; she'd started peeing, and that had stopped her, and it wasn't--

"You need to piss," said Maddie. "You go on your hands and knees in the tub, and rinse it out afterwards. I guess that if you need to shit, you can use the toilet; I don't want to go through the trouble of cleaning out a litterbox regularly. But that's it; got it?"

Samantha blushed, and started peeing again. Another shock. "I said use the tub. Samantha opened her mouth, and got another shock. "And no talking, as you'll recall."

It wasn't that easy to hold it in after she'd started, and to get into the tub, but she did, and then finally was able to let it loose.

"Better," said Maddie. "Turn around, face the drain."

She did, and there was the sound of the showerhead being removed, and then there was a sudden blast of cold water on her pussy.

She made a noise, jumped forward. Maddie had her hand in her hair, though, and held her in place.

"I'm not going to be around to make sure you're cleaned off like that every time. But I want you washing off, rather than using toilet paper, at least when you piss. And make sure you rinse the tub when you're done."

Samantha shivered uncontrollably. Every time? That was going to be . . . and yet, still turned on. More turned on. And that wasn't something that Maddie had been training her to do. Probably?

After she was done cleaning the bathtub, Maddie led her out to the living room. And then to the hall closet, where there was a wire cage set up where boots had used to be.

It was one of the ones that they sold for big dogs--it wasn't quite big enough for Samantha to lie down, but she was able to get in on her hands and knees without too much trouble.

"When you're healed up, we'll attach the nose ring to the cage, to hold you in place," said Maddie. "For now--" She linked something to the back of Samantha's collar, and then pulled that up, and fastened it to the top of the cage.

"Comfy?" she asked.

Samantha gave a quick nod.

"Good," said Maddie. "I mean, it'll take a little while for it to sink in; there's not that much research on the removal of an intermittent stimulus, but when you're in the cage, the shocks are off."

Samantha hadn't noticed, exactly. The shocks were intermittent--maybe one would fire every few minutes, and she'd more or less gotten used to it.

"And one more thing," said Maddie. She reached over the cage--the way that Samantha was set up, she couldn't see much behind Maddie's legs and feet and the bottom of her skirt. It was a nice view; Samantha hadn't really noticed how nice feet looked before Maddie had gotten started on her.

A glob of lube, and then something pushed into her ass.

"You'll want to practice, a little," said Maddie. "As soon as we get your STD test results back, C.J. is going to want to take you for a trial run. Anyway; I'm missing some endless nonsense about Dorne. Have fun!"

Then the closet door was firmly shut, and Samantha was left in the dark.

There was a little slack in the chain that kept her attached to the top of the cage, and there was a dull ache from the piercings in her nose and her nipples. For whatever reason, the door to the closet was heavier than the door to Maddie's room--she could hear that the TV was on, and that Maddie and Lisa were talking a little, but not well enough to make out what they were saying.

She pushed back into the toy in her ass, then rocked forward, back again. There hadn't been that much lube, and it hadn't been spread into her, but she was . . . she'd been plugged so often and for so long that it barely hurt; it felt good, in a strange way.

And it was sort of calm and quiet in the closet, in her cage. There wasn't anywhere she could go, and there wasn't any way for her to go anywhere. If she started yelling, Maddie would get her out--that was pretty clear. But it was sort of nice to pretend that she wouldn't. That she'd be kept in the cage until someone wanted to use her, and then cleaned and put away until someone else wanted an ass or a mouth to fuck.

It wasn't that, exactly, but within a week or so, C.J. would be fucking her. Unless that STD thing came back with something unexpected. Which would be really unexpected--it wasn't like she was likely to have picked something up from either Lisa or Maddie, and it'd been years since she'd had sex with anyone else.

She just had sex with Lisa; that was . . . Lisa seemed happy about it? And so did Maddie? It was the first time she'd done anything like that, but the practice might have helped?

Samantha pushed back into that toy, and moaned softly. It hurt, a little. It all did. And it was going to be anywhere from a month to more than a year before she was going to be allowed to orgasm.

It was dark and a little cold, and it was kind of boring. But it was also quiet and calm and those cuffs weren't hurting her; there was a little bit of regret when that door finally opened, and Samantha blinked up at Maddie and the light from the living room.

There were cold Chinese leftovers in the food bowl, the sort of ends of things that were probably scraped off of plates, all mixed together, with a half-container of rice dumped over all of it. And when she was done eating, they set her up on the coffee table, with the salt water soak for her breasts, and the suction cup dildo for her to suck on. And mostly ignored her. Lisa had gone to bed, and Maddie was sitting on the couch talking to C. J, mostly not about Samantha.

Bed, though, was a little tricky. After Samantha did her edge for the camera, Maddie set her up in the cage in the bedroom.

This one wasn't the sort of thing that was available at a petshop. It was long enough that Samantha could lie down, but Maddie didn't let her lie on her side.

"Best thing for healing with nipple rings is to sleep on your back," said Maddie. "And since you have a few days off, it's okay if you're going to be a little groggy."

The rope was reasonably soft, and it wasn't like Maddie was tying it tightly enough for it to be uncomfortable. But her arms and legs were pulled out between the bars, and tied there, so that she was a little stretched out. It was going to be a challenge to fall asleep like that, no question.

But the zaps from the cuffs were off, and Maddie had left her shoes near the cage, and there was something comforting about that too. She lay there, and was sure she wasn't going to sleep, and was sure she wasn't going to sleep, and then she woke up.

Maddie was already awake, sitting up in bed with a bathrobe, and a cup of tea, and her notebook.

"Oh," she said. "Good morning," she said. "Up and at 'em; things to do."

She came over and unlocked the cage, and untied Samantha. "Bathroom, rinse, and then come back here," said Maddie. "There's water in your bowl if you need a drink."

She did, kind of, though it was hard to swallow it down after she'd used the bathtub to pee. It was . . . the piss splashed on her, and it was hotter than it should've been. It was weird and uncomfortable and not sexy, but at the same time, doing what Maddie wanted was sexy, so it was a little confusing. And also those cuffs were waterproof, apparently, and were still working fine, shocking her as she tried to pee, and making her spill a little of her water when she tried to take a drink.

By the time she crawled back into the bedroom, Maddie had put a pair of shorts on the floor, and a brief sort of top.

"Hate to do this," she said. "But I don't want you to fall out of the habit of exercise, and apparently there are laws about public nudity. Anyhow, clothing on. Without standing up, Sandy--you stay on your hands and knees when you're in our apartment. And no, nothing else comes off."

She'd started to stand up to put the shorts on, and then had to get back on her hands and knees, and it wasn't at all easy to get the clothing on like that. And nothing else came off?

She looked up at Maddie, who was doing her hair in the mirror.

"You barely react to the shocks at this point," said Maddie. "Might get a few odd looks--that's a problem with the Upper West Side; lot of stodgy people around--but you'll manage. Shoes are by the door. You take them off before you come back into the apartment. And you don't come in standing up, and you get undressed as soon as that door closes."

Samantha breathed in, deeply, and then gave a quick nod. The shirt was tight, which was probably better than a looser shirt in terms of the nipple rings--it'd stay in one place, rather than moving across them--but it was certainly going to get some looks. Not as many as the cuffs and the collars, but . . . well, it was more revealing than anything she would have chosen for herself to wear, even for a quick trip to the gym.

Like Maddie had said, there were a lot of stodgy people on the Upper West Side, but most of them weren't up early to use the building's gym--which was basically a few weight machines, a half dozen stationary bikes and treadmills, and some ellipticals.

But there was a guy who came in when Samantha was a half-hour into her workout, and he could feel his eyes on her the whole time, which was kind of gross, and also kind of hot because it was gross. And also, when she was headed back up to the apartment, there was a woman in the elevator with her, who went as far away from her as she could get in the confined space.

Samantha stood there and sweated and tried not to twitch too much when the cuffs stung her, and just looked straight forward.

Which more or less worked, but then the woman got off on the same floor as her.

She didn't recognize everyone who lived nearby, not hardly--mostly, Maddie and Lisa took care of all their interactions with their neighbors, and there weren't many of those. But if she was going to be too weird in public, and cause people to complain, Maddie would get that thoughtful frown, and then put together a system that would make sure Samantha didn't do that again.

Which would hurt and be unpleasant and she didn't want it. So she pretended to look for keys while the woman scurried off to her apartment--not that there were a lot of places that she could've hidden keys in those shorts. But finally she was gone, and Samantha was able to take off her sneakers and open the door, and crawl into the house.

Where Lisa was wearing her scrubs and drinking a smoothie sort of thing, and Maddie was setting up the bowls of water and dildo on the coffee table.

"Want a quickie before work?" asked Maddie.

"Nah." Lisa shrugged. "I'm already pushing things by showing up in scrubs--as a doctor, I should be dressed businessy. But while they can't just give me an alternative to getting dressed that takes two minutes and then take that away, showing up twenty minutes late and smelling of sex wouldn't help things."

"Up on the table, Sandy," said Maddie, without looking at her. "You'll shower after you've done your soak. Why don't they want you to wear scrubs?"

"Because I sit in an office and look at computer screens all day," said Lisa. "And, technically, I'm a doctor, and an adult, and all that."

Still, on the way out, Lisa paused to watch Samantha working on the dildo, and ran her hand along her side.

"Problem is that she can't go swimming," said Maddie. "I mean, the butt is coming along pretty well, but until she's getting a full body workout, I'll probably have to cut back on the calorie count."

"That, and work on blow-job technique," said Lisa.

"True," said Maddie. "At the moment, I've been concentrating on depth, and making sure she doesn't bite; once she's working on real cocks, there's other things I'll help her with."

"Makes sense," said Lisa. "And make sure I get a look at C.J.'s STD screen before you start doing that. I'm pretty sure she's clean now, but if he's picked something up, I don't want it."

"He's fine," said Maddie. "And he's gone in for tests, like I said he would. As will everyone else who fucks her. I mean, I've done this before."

"Yeah, well, it's my first time at this particular rodeo," said Lisa. "So I'm going to be making sure everyone else is doing what they should be."

"Right," said Maddie. "I mean, unless you count the fact that Rafe was cheating on you for like three months before you broke up, in which case, you were kind of--"

Lisa picked up her bag, and extended a middle finger behind her as she left.

"Fair enough," said Maddie. "You two seem to have hit it off, anyway, so that's nice."

Samantha wriggled a little, as Maddie pushed the vibrator up against her. "Looking forward to licking her out tonight?"

Samantha tried to look back at Maddie and give her a nod while keeping her breasts in the bowls of saline, and her mouth on the dildo. It didn't exactly work, but the meaning was approximately conveyed.

"Good," said Maddie. "I'm afraid that it's going to be a bit of a boring day today, because I've got some paperwork to catch up on. Remember; piss in the tub. And facing the drain, I think--that way, you'll get a better view of what you're doing. Food and water from the bowls, and do your best to behave. The idea is to set a new normal, and that's going to take a while. Oh, and if you decide that you want to wear a different collar, or no collar, I want you to do that before your morning workout. The Sandy collar gets locked up for 24 hours if you take it off."

She hadn't said that Samantha couldn't take the collar off in the middle of the day, but she'd more or less implied that she shouldn't. So she didn't, even though it was boring, with nobody playing with her, and the shocks from the cuffs being a sort of low-level irritation in the background.

Maddie was there, though, and she put food and water in her bowls--the food was stuff like dry breakfast cereal and raw vegetables, but it was something. She also made sure that Samantha never lay down on her back, and after she spent like an hour crouching at her feet, she gave her the fleshlight to practice on.

Which she did. And even though it was just licking a bit of latex, it turned her on. Because of what Maddie had done with making her respond to stimuli, but also because it reminded her of licking Lisa out, and that she was going to be able to do that again pretty soon. Maybe it was what Maddie had in mind, and maybe it wasn't, but because it was boring, Samantha did sort of focus on the things that had happened, and the things that were going to happen, and found herself looking forward to that.

Most of the time, Maddie was working, but every so often, she'd stop for a break, and she'd hit Samantha with the riding crop or a knotted length of cord. Or she'd play with her breasts, or edge her with the vibrator, and if Samantha did really well with those, Maddie would let her lick her feet. Then she'd go back to working, and Samantha would curl up on the floor and remember what had happened, and look forward to it happening again.

When Lisa came back from work, Samantha perked up so obviously that Maddie laughed and tousled her hair, but Lisa just sat down on the couch, and closed her eyes.

"Tough day?" asked Maddie.

"The thing is," said Lisa, "is that nurses resent the fact that they deal with a lot more poop than doctors have to deal with, and doctors make more money. Whereas I make less money than doctors, and I need nurses to do what I tell them to do."

"I thought you just work on a computer all day," said Maddie.

"But before I can work on a computer, the things that get on the computer have to be taken, which is the tech's job, and the patients have to be prepared for the things which is what the nurses are supposed to do, and. . ." She shook her head. "Can I make her rub my feet?"

"Sure," said Maddie, and she toed Samantha in her side. "Go on, Sandy. Be useful."

Samantha crawled over and got Lisa's sneakers and socks off, and started massaging her. Which she knew that she wasn't doing very well, but which was something, anyway?

She kept looking up at Lisa, hoping for some sort of response or at least a look, but she didn't get that; she was just there. Maybe she was a little more interactive than most of the furniture, but qualitatively, she wasn't any different.

That thought left her burning with need. When Lisa got up and gave her a sort of "well, come on then," motion and headed to her bedroom, Samantha followed eagerly, and Maddie went after them, with the vibrator.

It was pretty much like it had been when she was rubbing Lisa's feet; she was there, and she was used, but Lisa wasn't paying much attention to her. And when she finished, and Lisa came, Maddie led her back out to the living room, and tied her up on the floor for her nap--it seemed that Lisa was tired and didn't need any company.

Samantha woke up before Lisa did--Lisa didn't have those shock cuffs on her wrists and ankles--but it seemed like Lisa was basically done using her for a while.

Maddie made pasta with a meat sauce for dinner. When they were done eating, they scraped what was left on their plates into Samantha's bowl, pretty much the same way they'd normally scrape that stuff off into the garbage.

Unfortunately, Lisa was hungry, so there wasn't that much food from her plate for Samantha. She ate what she had, and then drank the water, and stayed there hoping for more, but neither of them paid any attention to her noises, so she wandered back to the living room, and lay down by Maddie's feet. Which got her an approving pat on the head, and then a beating with that knotted cord.

Lisa had been more or less ignoring Samantha after her nap, but she was at least a little interested by that; she sat on the couch watching, and she started breathing a little harder.

"Want to give it a go?" asked Maddie.

"Not today," said Lisa. "Is that something else that you've made her like?"

"No," said Maddie. "The pain paraphilia is something that she started with--if you let her lie on your lap and hit her butt, she'll leave a pretty big wet spot behind. I could work the vibrator, if you like, to make sure she's enthusiastic about this sort of thing with you."

"Not even sure I'd want her to be enthusiastic," said Lisa.

"Well, fair enough," said Maddie. "I mean, she'll be turned on, but she'd still hurt, and she still wouldn't want to be hurt. I'd just make her a little more turned on then she'd be at baseline."

Lisa shook her head, then reached out, and traced one of the lines that Maddie had left behind on Samantha's thigh. Samantha trembled at her touch.

"Have you ever considered using your bag of tricks to make people better, rather than more screwed up?"

Maddie sighed. "That's what everyone else tries to do," she said. "Thing is, I'm mostly a behaviorist, so in theory, I should believe that it'd be as easy to fix problems as to cause behaviors that I want, fact is, I don't think you can ignore underlying issues."

"Maddie," said Lisa. "I did my psych rotation three years ago, and I wasn't very good at it."

"Let's say . . . right. Let's say that there's someone who wants to stop being a drunk. So I could rig them up with things that make them suffer when they get drunk, and reward them for healthy exercise or something. Could be it'd work. But generally speaking, people don't become drunks for no good reason. Maybe it's a childhood trauma or it's depression or it's something else."

"So they're better off being drunks?" asked Lisa.

Maddie shrugged. "I don't know about that," she said. "It's not too hard to make someone start drinking. It's an intrinsically reinforcing behavior for most people, so you just need to add a little more positive reinforcement, and you can probably make someone into a drunk. Thing is, that's not really how most people started drinking. So, sure. Let's say I could make someone stop drinking. It'd take a lot of work, but it's possible. Odds are good, though, they'll start taking drugs or gambling or something else that's equally self-destructing. Things like drinking are usually the symptom, not the disease. And that's ignoring the fact that they'll spontaneously revert to drinking, and they'll get another layer of fucked up stuff they'll associate with their drinking; maybe they'll vomit a lot more often, or they'll get into fights, because they'll associate drinking with vomiting or getting hurt."

"So, the only reason that you've decided not to help people is because it's too hard?"

Maddie reached over, and lightly kneaded Samantha's breast, not touching the nipple at all. "Not the only reason," said Maddie. "For one thing, there's a lot more competition in trying to help people kick bad habits and get over phobias and so on, whereas I'm really breaking new ground in my chosen field."

"And for another?"

Samantha was wriggling at Maddie's touch, and trying not to moan. "And for another, this is a lot more fun. I've ordered a few more toys for her, and they're going to be great, but even without that . . . well, it's just fun to play with boobs, for one things, and it's just amazing the way that masochists like her respond to pain; they want it and don't want it, and it's great."

"Not going to argue," said Lisa. "But I'm still not quite in the mood to play with her again. Want to go out for drinks?"

"Sure," said Maddie. "Let me lock her up and change."

"No problem," said Lisa, and got up.

Maddie led Samantha over to the closet, and set her up in the cage again.

"Now, since you're home alone," she said, "there's an emergency release, right near your left hand. Press it."

Samantha pressed it, and the cage unlocked. She was still chained to the top, but she could unhook that without problems, with the door open. "Good," said Maddie. "Now, if you hit the release, it sends a message to my phone--I'll be home as soon as I can, and if it turns out that there wasn't an emergency, there'll be problems."

A faint shiver ran through Samantha. Maddie smiled, patted her cheek, and locked her back in the cage. "I know," she said. "You want to be good, and it's nice and calm now, so you don't have to worry about that. Now, let me set up the dildo for your ass, and give you something to suck on. I'll be back in a few hours, anyway, and if Lisa manages to pick someone up, he isn't going to even see you."

Then the door of the closet clicked shut, and a few minutes after that, she could hear the front door shut as Lisa and Maddie headed out.

And then she was alone with her thoughts. And a dildo up her ass, and another one in her mouth. She rocked slowly back and forth, one of those dildos sliding in as the other one slid out, not really thinking much, and kind of hoping that Lisa would bring someone back, and they'd both be drunk enough to let her fuck the guy, or at least. . . .

That wasn't going to happen, though. Maddie had her rules, and followed them, regardless of what anyone else thought.

Which was comforting, in a way.

She couldn't fall asleep, not squeezed into that cage on her hands and knees, but it was quiet and calm and dark, and there was the feeling of the fake cock in her ass, and the other one in her mouth.

She worked a lot harder on sucking then she had been, forcing herself to hold it down as deeply as she could, for as long as she could. Improve her technique? She'd show them improved technique.

By the time the front door opened, Samantha's throat was raw, and there was a layer of drool on the floor of the cage. Then Maddie opened the door of the closet, and giggled when she saw Samantha. "Looking good, Sandy," she said, slurring slightly. "It's a good look for you. Now, out--time for you to perform a little.

She was still blinking a little at the light when Maddie led her out to the living room.

"What I really want to do is beat your breasts," she said. "But I've made that out-of-bounds for, like, months. So it's gonna be your ass. Over the coffee table--over the middle of the table, right, so your legs are on one side, and your breasts are hanging over the other. Perfect.

"Well," said Lisa, from the couch. "Average. Little over-average? Solid six, let's say."

"Which is kind of the point," said Maddie. "A few cuffs and collars and a new attitude, and an average-to-above average person because a usefully sexy thing. It's great. Want to go first?"

A pause, and Samantha wasn't sure what answer she wanted to hear.

"Not entirely sure that I should do this after drinking," said Lisa.

"It's fine," said Maddie. "It's what she's there for. And you had like . . . two fruity drinks and a screwdriver. That's not drinking, that's maybe two units. And I had less, so I'll keep a limit on it."

"Nah," said Lisa. "You do it. But lemme get a chair, so I can get a better view."

"No problem," said Maddie. "Go ahead."

Then Lisa pulled a chair around to sit in front of Samantha, and Maddie pulled Samantha's hands up behind her, and tied them there, anchoring them to the sides of the table.

Maddie hit a little harder than usual, and there was the way that Lisa was looking at her. Samantha turned away, and then all her cuffs lit up at once. "No," said Lisa. "Eyes on me."

Maddie didn't say anything, but the knotted cord came down again. It was still a little harder than usual, but there was the same control there that there always was. And Lisa was a little drunk, maybe, but she was also deeply enjoying what Maddie was doing, a little hitch in her breath as she watched Samantha's arms struggling against the bonds, the way she jumped after every hit. And each time Samantha even blinked for too long, she hit that punishment button.

"Right," said Maddie, after a while. "My arms are getting tired, and I want to get to bed. You want a go, or her mouth, or--"

"You can set her up over my lap," said Lisa.

"Or you could."

"I want her tied up and uncomfortable. And if you've got some things to plug her holes with, do that too."

A long, slow grin from Maddie. "Might have one or two things for her holes, at that," she said. "I mean, I'd rather not have anything in her cunt, but--"

"Ass and mouth is good enough," said Lisa. "She looks better with something thick up her ass."

"I know, right," said Maddie, who was headed to her room. "Sit quiet, Sandy. Maybe later she'll let you lick her out; it's been a while since you've had two orgasms in a day."

She wasn't going to have any orgasms, not really, but . . . Lisa shocked her again.

"Didn't say you could look away," she said, and there was an edge to that which made Samantha shiver. That was. . . Maddie liked hurting her, and liked playing with her, and definitely liked being in control of her, but there wasn't that edge there--there wasn't that sort of desire.

Maddie decided that the couch made the most sense, and soon Samantha was over Lisa's lap, tied up tight, and with a big plug in her ass, and a dildo in her mouth. Lisa's hand was warm on her ass, moving slowly. Samantha whined, and bucked against her, and then Lisa hit her, a lot harder than Maddie did.

Samantha yelped, twitched as the right ankle cuff shocked her, but she didn't stop trying to grind against Lisa's leg.

"See what you mean," said Lisa. "Yeah, that's pretty great. You think you could make her come from just being hit?"

"Probably not," said Maddie. "I mean, I could get her to act like she was coming--maybe even duplicate some of the after-effects--but the fact is, I'm not going to be able to actually rewire her nervous system. There usually needs to be some form of direct stimulation. Some girls can come from just having their breasts stimulated, but it's real rare to--"

"Got it," said Lisa, and hit Samantha again. And again, and again, and Samantha had to pull back from Lisa's leg to keep from orgasming. "This'd work, anyway. S'good enough."

"I know, right," said Maddie. "But if she loses it--"

"She gets in trouble," said Lisa. "Sure. Whatever. Shove her over; I want to come and sleep this off."

"You sure?" asked Maddie. "I mean--"

"I still don't want to see other people fucking in my living room," said Lisa. "But--"

"No problem," said Maddie, moving Samantha off, taking the dildo out of her mouth, and then repositioning her right between Lisa's legs. Who seemed to have gotten her underwear off at some point. Samantha dove in, and Lisa was already wet and throbbing. Maddie was working the vibrator, as usual, only it was really light touches, just long enough for Samantha to feel it, and then it was gone. There was a surge of gratitude at that; Maddie knew her well enough to know just how close she was.

Lisa came, hard, her hand twisting in Samantha's hair, hard enough that she'd definitely pulled some out. And then she got up, and went to bed.

"There," said Maddie, with some satisfaction. "Knew that was what she wanted to do to you. And since she had an orgasm, you're probably feeling a little happy and sleepy, so let's get you set up for the night in your cage, eh?"

She was feeling a little happy and sleepy, for whatever reason, and even though she was tied up on the floor of a cage, trying to sleep on her back, she fell asleep pretty quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

Next day, Lisa had picked up a nighthawking shift somewhere, so she wasn't going to be back until midnight. After her workout, which got the same sort of looks as it had the day before, Samantha took off the Sandy collar, and the cuffs, and put the Samantha collar on. Hopefully Maddie wouldn't get too upset?

She wasn't. She had a pile of papers spread out on the table, and smiled at Samantha, when she came out in that collar.

"Little sooner than expected, but fair enough. Decided you needed a break?"

"Yeah," said Samantha, and it was the first word she'd said since she'd come home and put that Sandy collar on. "I mean, just a break, really, but there's work that I said that I'd do, and there's . . . I guess I got kind of hungry."

"Fair enough," said Maddie. She got a thoughtful look, and tapped the pencil on the table. "Still, this is vacation, and I want those rings to heal up as soon as possible. So you can stay topless in the living room, and you can do your soaks on the coffee table. But no dildo while you're doing that, and definitely no access to the cages."

Samantha gave a quick nod, and set herself up on the table--Maddie had already set up the bowls, and she didn't even look disappointed when she took the suction-cup dildo off the table.

It was odd, but even though Maddie didn't seem to mind, Samantha did feel a little disappointed. It hurt, trying to deep-throat that toy, but it was a thing to do, and it was a thing that she'd been getting better at. And even though Maddie would sometimes walk past her, she didn't play with her at all, not even light touches.

"Actually," said Maddie. "When you're done, you can get some breakfast, and there are a few things that I wanted to talk to you about."

At least she was allowed to eat breakfast sitting on the floor next to Maddie.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked, after basically inhaling the first two waffles.

"First off," said Maddie. "C. J. is planning on coming over for the weekend. You're free to choose the Samantha collar, or no collar, but that'd mean that you either have to wear a shirt or I'll have to cancel on C. J. coming over, so let me know in advance, if you can, so I can plan accordingly?"

Samantha swallowed her bite of waffle, and then swallowed again. "No it's okay," she said. "I'll wear the Sandy collar."

"Good," said Maddie. "You mean, you hope you'll be allowed to wear the Sandy collar, but good enough. Next. I'm not sure when we'll be able to talk like this again, so let's talk about your sex party."

"My what?"

"So, I was thinking," said Maddie. "When the piercings heal up enough for us to play with them, you'll be allowed to orgasm. And, you know, maybe you'll lose it a few times between now and then, or you'll take off the collars or whatever. But that'll be your first proper orgasm in a while, whenever it happens. And I'd kind of like to mark the occasion."

Samantha sat very still, looking at the maple syrup and waffles cooling on her plate, and kind of regretted taking off the Sandy collar. She had copy-editing to do, and ad copy to write, but when she was wearing the Sandy collar, people didn't ask her to think about things.

"I figure, we'd set you up like a science fair project. I'd put together some boards explaining what I've been doing, and how the experiment is proceeding."

"Explaining to who?" asked Samantha.

"Well, that's the thing, isn't it? I'm thinking some of our friends--people who I'm thinking of including in the group who gets to fuck you. And a few people who I know who are interested in this sort of thing, even if they're not the sort of people who get to fuck Sandy."

Samantha swallowed again. "I don't . . . they'd be . . . I mean, would I be having sex in public like that?"

Maddie considered. "No," she said, finally. "Sandy does get to fuck a few people, sure, but I don't think that a gangbang is in the cards. Maybe they get to touch you, maybe not--not sure about that, yet. And they'll watch you fucking a few toys, and everyone will get to see you have that long-awaited orgasm."

Samantha knew that she was breathing quicker. It sounded scary as hell, but also good. If they were going to be allowed to have sex with her--that was no, and that was always going to be no. But just being seen? Scary, really scary, but hot enough that the scary was managable.

"Okay," she said.

"Good," said Maddie. "Next question is how much access you'll want to give them. It'd be a lot easier to explain what I'm doing and show your progress if I use some of the videos, but like I said, they're not going to be shown to anyone else without your permission."

Samantha shrugged. "If they're going to see me with a dildo up my ass, may as well let them see a video of me with a dildo up my ass."

"Logical," said Maddie. She ruffled Samantha's hair. "I mean, that could be a long way off, but I'm glad that we're on the same page as far as that goes."

Samantha nodded, and started in on her last waffle.

"Now, we're on vacation, or at least, we're taking a working vacation. But if you want, once that's over and you have to start going back to work, you can keep the Sandy collar on. I'll give you a little thing that'll cover up the name-tag; I don't want people calling you that in other circumstances. And you'll only keep one of the cuffs on while you're at work. But--"

"But people will notice if I have a bit shock bracelet on my wrist," said Samantha.

"Yeah," said Maddie. "Which leaves you with the choices of wearing one on your ankles and also thick socks, or coping with the fact that people notice. Or not wearing the Sandy collar during the week; there's always the option of just keeping that on for weekends. Even though it would mean being a bit less useful around the house, it's entirely your call."

Samantha scowled at that, then nodded. The cuffs weren't that thick; there was a little bulge near the buckle which was where the electric part was, but if she was wearing socks people wouldn't notice. Frankly, even if they were clunkier, people wouldn't notice. Nobody paid that much attention to her ankles.

They might pick up on her jerking around a little when the shocks hit, but they might not, either.

"And what else?" she asked.

"You pick up quick," said Maddie. "I'll give you a toy to play with on your breaks. Least half an hour a day, or there'll be consequences. And I'll probably be having you take selfies when I'm bored. Oh, and you get an hour for lunch, right?"

"We're supposed to," said Samantha. "Lot of times I'll work through, though. Or take it late, or--"

"Point is, if someone who's allowed to use you is in the neighborhood, C.J.'s aunt has a place in the Village where she's never in, because she's basically moved to France. So when I tell you, you go there for lunch, and get undressed, and they'll bring you something to eat and fuck you. I'll get you keys. And make sure that she's not home--you don't have to worry about that."

"Okay," said Samantha. "That part sounds good. But--"

"But no talking, and no standing, and no using the furniture, except when you're at work, or in transit. And if you need to work at home, it's going to have to be the Samantha collar; Sandy doesn't read unless she has to."

A shaky breath. "I like reading, though," she said.

"Well, then you should probably stick with the Samantha collar. I still haven't decided what comes next, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve a lot of reading."

Samantha's nipples hurt more when she was turned on. The weight of the rings was something that she sort of forgot most of the time, but she noticed them then.

"But there is something next," she said.

"Probably," said Maddie. "I mean, if you want to stop with this one, that's fine. I mean, Samantha is good company, and Sandy is useful to have around, so there isn't any need to go further than that. But. . . well, whatever. It's not something you have to worry about for a long time. We can talk more about it after your party, which might not be for a year. Now, if you're done eating, wash up, and then go the bedroom and get undressed. It's been a while since I've gotten your sex fantasies on tape, and I'm curious about that. And edging you is always a fun little stress reliever."

Samantha couldn't complain that Maddie wasn't paying attention to her. First there was edging for the camera--on her hands and knees, now, with a blunt metal hook up her butt, tied to her hair. Then Maddie used the riding crop and vibrator to get her to talk about her fantasies, and then more getting edged and beaten, because that was apparently a fun little stress reliever. Then Maddie lay down next to her, used her vibrator, and untied her, to take a little nap on a used T-shirt. 

Then it was time to get started on some of the work that Samantha was supposed to be home working on.

It wasn't as fun as she'd hoped the project was going to be. It wasn't a bad book--it was about the cloud forests in Indonesia, which meant that it was interesting, and there were a lot of pictures, which meant that while doing the layout was fiddly, it was usually fun. But it wasn't really what she wanted to be doing; whenever she took a break to concentrate on sucking on the vibrator Maddie had used, her hips were moving in time with her mouth. According to google, the fastest recovery she could expect for the nipple piercings was six to eight weeks, and even if they recovered as fast as possible, there was no way she was going to be able to go that long without orgasm.

At least with the Sandy collar, nobody was asking her to think.

Since she was out in the living room, she had to wear underwear and a skirt, and by the time Maddie came back from going shopping, that underwear was ridiculously wet.

"Do me a favor and make lunch," said Maddie, putting down the grocery bags. "There's tilapia and asparagus. I've got to make a bunch of phone calls."

Making lunch sounded a lot better than making phone calls. And doing something that she was told to do sounded better than trying to get pictures to line up in the right places, or choosing a font for page numbers.

Maddie wasn't particularly quiet when she was on the phone, and she didn't stay in the same place; she paced up and down the living room, into the kitchen and out, so while Samantha worked getting lunch ready, and then cleaning up after herself, she got to hear what Maddie was talking about.

Some of it was checking in with previous clients, where she managed to turn 'asking about how things were going with the previous work I've done' into 'what else do you want to hire me to do' like three times out of four. And then there was a long talk with her accountant.

Turned out, Maddie was doing okay for herself. For values of 'doing okay' that meant a yearly income more than fifteen times higher than Samantha's. And that wasn't counting income from investments.

When the fish was in the oven, and the asparagus cleaned and in the pot, Maddie paused between phone calls. "Set the table," she said. "For one."

Samantha did, and then served Maddie, standing a step behind her as she ate. It wasn't something that they'd done before, and it was a sort of interesting thing to do; when Maddie was done eating, she gave Samantha a pat on the ass, and headed over to the sink. "Eat quickly," she said. "Then out to the living room for your soak. And then maybe some edges, and a little pain, and back to work for you."

Which was fine, but which wasn't quite as interesting as either being Maddie's servant or the sort of thing that she'd been doing as Sandy.

Overall, it wasn't a bad day, and sleeping in bed was nice, but there was a relief when she put that Sandy collar back on the next day.

"Oh, good," said Maddie, when Sandy crawled out. "C.J.'s actually got some free time tonight, so . . ."

"So, what, I don't get to use her?" asked Lisa, blearily.

"Hm," said Maddie, as she set Samantha up on the table. "Tell you what."

Samantha started working on the suction cup dildo as Maddie went to look for something. She couldn't shift her angle, so she couldn't see what Maddie was doing. Then she came back with a marker, and started writing something on Samantha's butt.

"7:30-8:30?" asked Lisa.

"Yeah. Or at least that's when he thinks he'll be here, and I'll want to chill with him a little. So if you're going to use her, just put down your name and time. It'll get a little more complicated once I add a few more partners, but you get an advantage because you live here, and can make your reservations in the morning."

"Makes sense," said Lisa. She took the marker, and wrote something else, under what Maddie had written.

"Fair enough," said Maddie. "If we're in bed, tie her to the doorknob of my room, and knock; I'll get to her eventually. Want a quickie now?"

"Still no," said Lisa. "Unlike some of us, I have to be at a proper job, where people notice if I'm late and more relaxed than I should be. And make sure that C.J. doesn't mess her up too much; I want her lively."

"We'll do what we can," said Maddie.

Samantha had been tied up on her back, and had woken up with dried blood and those crusty things that were apparently lymph on her breasts. Since she wasn't allowed to touch, that had been there until she'd started soaking. Which meant that it felt really nice, and also that the dull ache from the nipple rings had faded, at least a little.

But she forgot about all of that; her legs were twitching, moving against each other, and she was having a hard time breathing right. There was a sign-up sheet on her ass, and Lisa wanted her lively, and she was going to have sex with C.J. that night, and all the rest.

"You seem happy," said Maddie, pulling Samantha's chin up to get a good look at her face. "Little pain, and then the hall closet for a little while, I think."

The pain wasn't bad--Maddie worked her over with the riding crop and knotted cord. Relatively few shots in any particular place, and none of them very hard, but she hit her in a lot of places, which made Samantha's skin light up just about everywhere. She was sweating and panting when Maddie locked her up in that cage in the closet, and she worked both of those dildos enthusiastically for what seemed like hours, rocking back and forth, getting one of them as deeply into her ass as she could, and then the other one as deeply into her mouth as possible.

C.J. was . . . well, he wasn't the sort of guy that Samantha wound up dating. Tall, nice hair, nice suits, but he seemed like he was in the background a lot of the time. Wasn't one of the funny guys who got so excited about what he was saying that he got tied up in complicated sentences. When Samantha dated, she'd wind up with the idiot friend of someone like C.J.

But, well, tall and nice hair and strong hands, and it had been a really long time since she'd had sex with a guy, and it was going to be her chance to show how much she'd learned.

The rest of the day didn't go as quickly as Samantha wanted. There were vegetables and breakfast cereal in her food bowl, and there were two more soaking sessions, and showers after each of them. But she found herself watching the clock more and more, as it got on towards evening, and Maddie noticed that; there was that smile, and then she led her to the bedroom, and sprayed a little bit of perfume on her asshole, which kind of burned, but which . . . okay, there was clearly a reason for that, and it was kind of hot.

Then she got to work with the crop and cord again, the same way as she had before, leaving Samantha sure that she was going to fall apart at the first touch. But then Maddie set her up on the bed, on her hands and knees, with that metal hook with the ball on the end up her butt, and tied to her hair.

The ropes were precise; they held her up, and they held her legs apart, and there wasn't any way that Samantha would be able to get herself loose. She stayed there, breathing hard, her toes clenching, as Maddie went out, made dinner, and when there was a knock at the door, let C.J. in.

There was some conversation that she couldn't hear, as they ate. If she'd been set up near the door, she . . . but then, this way, it was clear what was going to happen to her. Absolutely clear. And she was on the bed, which was a little uncomfortable, being on furniture while she was wearing the Sandy collar, and, and.

And eventually dinner ended, and the door opened.

There was a long pause. "So," said C.J. after a while. "I've got an hour?"

"Pretty much," said Maddie. "If you want more, I'll sign you up for longer over the weekend. Although, if you wind up spending too much time with her, and not enough with me . . . I mean, worth remembering who controls access to whom."

Another pause.

"And you're going to be recording this," said C.J.

"As I made clear to you repeatedly. Anyhow. Clean bill of health came in today and is in the folder by her cage, if you want to check it out, and--"

"And if those videos get out, I would be in serious trouble with the firm," said C.J.

"Why?" asked Maddie. "Because your girlfriend knows about it, or because the girl you're fucking is sober and consenting?"

"It's not the 80s," said C.J. "They take things seriously--"

"I didn't say anything about excessive cocaine use. Look; lawyers have affairs all the time. This is one that's unlikely to cause a divorce, doesn't even involve hookers or blow, and, frankly, is going to be pretty vanilla. Also the only way these videos are going to get out is if burglars break in and spend a lot of money to decrypt my harddrives. This isn't about the videos, this is about cold feet."

"Maybe a little," said C.J. "It's kinda weird."

"Maybe a little weird," said Maddie. "Look, if you don't want to, I can--"

"Didn't say that. Look, Samantha--are you cool with this?"

Samantha froze.

"First off," said Maddie, "call her Sandy. She's not supposed to answer to Samantha. Next off, she's not supposed to talk. Try it like this: Sandy, if you're cool with this, wriggle your ass."

She wriggled her ass.

"Good," said Maddie. "See?"

There was a shift of weight in the bed as C.J. sat down next to her. "And while you can use her however you'd like, I'd suggest starting with her mouth and moving to her ass, unless you want to stop in the middle for a shower."

"So those are the two options?" asked C.J.

"It's what she's been practicing," said Maddie. "And I had kind of been hoping that she'd be available for the sorts of sex that I'm not particularly interested in."

"Aw," said C.J. "You give excellent blowjobs."

He was getting undressed; Samantha was looking straight ahead, but she could feel his weight shifting, see him out of the corner of her eye.

"I do," said Maddie. "But it's a little unpleasant, and when we're done with her, Samantha will be better. And if you don't--"

C.J. sighed. "But you'll still--"

"For special occasions," said Maddie. "I mean, important to keep in practice."

C.J. was in front of her, and despite the fact that he hadn't sounded that enthusiastic, his cock was stiff. Samantha surged forward, and took it into her mouth. It was a little wider than the dildo she'd been training with had been, and not quite as long. But it was warm, and it had been a really long time. Samantha was vaguely aware of the happy little noise that she made around it, the way the hook in her ass shifted as she leaned into him, but most of her was lost in the sensations of the velvety skin against her lips and tongue, the faint throbbing beat of his pulse.

"Good," said Maddie. "But think about your hands. One caressing the shaft, when it's not in your mouth, the balls when it is--"

"Maddie?" said C.J., sounding a little strangled.

"Sh," said Maddie. "She needs to learn. You're helping."

Samantha did what she'd been told, tried to get it right, and finally was rewarded by that little buzz from one of the cuffs--her left ankle, this time--which meant that she'd done something right.

"And the other one between his legs. Up to the balls, a little bit of pressure just below the balls. Not too much--" and there was that shock of all the cuffs at once. "There. Better. Just like that."

"She did, ah, always seem a little stand-offish," said C.J., gasping a little. "Doesn't seem, uh, stand-offish now."

"No," said Maddie, sharply. "She was shy. But we've worked through that, and now she's doing very well. There's no need to be rude."

C.J. didn't say anything, just thrust into her mouth. There was the same raw feeling that the dildo had left her with, the same drool dripping down the cock, though now it was in her hand, slicking his cock rather than puddling on the floor of her cage. 

He'd started slow, but he sped up, and she could feel the way his balls were tensing; he was going to . . . but he pulled out, and back away from her, breathing hard.

"Not bad?" said Maddie.

"Not bad," said C.J. "For a first time out."

The cuff on Samantha's left wrist buzzed, and then went quiet, as C.J. moved around behind her.

"Hold on, though," said Maddie, and she sat down in front of Samantha, cupping her chin in her fingers, looking into her eyes.

"Go ahead," she said, quietly. "Whenever you're ready."

He worked the hook out, and Samantha's head dropped into Maddie's hand, as C.J. worked some lube in. First lube, and then his cock. It was bigger than the hook, or her training dildos had been so it hurt when he pushed in. Maddie saw that, and her eyes lit up. "The substance of power," she said, softly. "There's a cock in your ass, and you're happy about it, because that's what I wanted. Hell of a lot more meaningful than wearing a corset and being called mistress, don't you think?"

Samantha gave a little nod. She would've looked away, but Maddie wasn't letting go of her chin. When she closed her eyes, the cuffs shocked her, so she bit her lip, and looked at Maddie, as C.J. took her.

"You can come in her, or on her--whatever you want," said Maddie. "She's on birth control, and you're both clean."

A grunt from C.J. that might have been agreement, or might have just been what he was feeling; there wasn't much control as he pushed into her, hard and fast and his hands clenched on her hips.

"That's it, Sandy," said Maddie, softly. "What you've been aching for."

He came, hard. Really hard; four thrusts into her that she knew that were his orgasm, and then he pulled out with a low moan.

"Good," said Maddie, and Samantha was still desperately turned on, but also a little . . . her arousal had dropped, almost instantly from overwhelming to manageable, because C.J. had orgasmed. And she was a little tired, and was starting to ache a little, in various places that had been contorted by the way she'd been tied, and her ass was sore and slick with lube and come.

Maddie set her up on her back, next to the bed, and then went out to the living room with C.J. Samantha drifted off, until the cuffs started shocking her again and woke her up.

It was a little weird, crawling around the living room with C.J. there, but he was mostly done with her, and was paying attention to Maddie. But there were left-overs in her food bowl, and then she had to pee, and then she just lay down next to the couch as they sat there and talked. Then Lisa came back, and took her into her bedroom.

This time, she smacked her around a little before fucking her--there was that look that she got as she slapped Samantha's face, which was focused and hungry and she was as turned on as Samantha. No talking, though, and she pressed the punishment button over and over, because she liked the way that it made Samantha jump.

When they were finally done, Maddie and C.J. were together in their bedroom, and the door was locked. So Lisa left her with her cuffs fastened together, and her collar tied to Maddie's doorknob.

It was a little cold, waiting there, and uncomfortable, and she could hear them talking softly, voices rising and falling.

C.J. still thought that Maddie's arrangement with Samantha was more than a little weird, but he had to admit that there were advantages. Specifically, having an ass to fuck whenever he wanted one was definitely an advantage. Then he tried to talk Maddie into helping him make an informed comparison. He was good at arguing, but he didn't get anywhere with that one. But they did have sex, with Samantha shivering outside their room, waiting to be let in to sleep in her cage.

Most of the time, she didn't even notice the shocks any more. Unlike the punishment shocks, they were mild. Like mosquito bites, maybe, not much more than that. But she noticed them then, twitching, and biting back hurt noises to the noises of Maddie and C.J. making love.

When Maddie came out to get her, she was wearing an open bathrobe, and nothing else. There was a table lamp on behind her, and that was the only light on; Samantha saw her mostly in shadow.

She looked . . . satisfied, maybe, and sort of sensuous. But it wasn't for Samantha. She led her to her cage, tied her up and locked her in, and went to sleep.

The cuffs had stopped, because she was caged, and Samantha was deeply tired. She drifted off to the sound of Maddie and C.J.'s mingled breathing. She was still sore, and still had lube on her ass and still really wanted to come, but, overall, she was pretty happy.

The next morning, after her workout and shower, Maddie locked her up in the hall closet, which was where C.J. found her.

She'd heard Lisa heading out to work, and Maddie going in for her bath, so it was just the two of them. For a long moment, he stood there in front of the closet, looking at her, and while she blushed and looked away, there wasn't anywhere she could hide; she was what she was.

"But seriously," said C.J. "You're okay with this?"

If she'd answered, it would've been fine; he was the only one there, and he clearly wanted her to talk. But even thinking about talking was a little uncomfortable. Like it'd break the illusion that Maddie had worked so hard to create, and ruin everyone's fun. She was letting herself have sex with . . . not strangers, but near strangers, because she was going along with Maddie's plans. If she started breaking those rules, it kind of meant facing the fact that she was the one doing that stuff.

So she wiggled her butt, and gave C.J. a pleading look, her lips locked on the dildo that Maddie had left for her to practice with.

He groaned. "Yeah, okay," he said, and he unzipped, and replaced the dildo with his cock. Which was better.

Maddie came out of the back as he was working her. Samantha wasn't sure what reaction to expect, but she just smiled, and patted C.J.'s butt on her way to the bedroom.

"It's against Lisa's rules," she said. "But don't worry about that; I think she's coming around."

Samantha's hands were free, but she couldn't use them exactly like Maddie had recommended through the bars of the cage--she reached for him as best she could, touching where she was able, and slamming back into the dildo that was in her ass as she sucked, moving her whole body, rather than just her head.

It seemed to work; C.J.'s thrusts got quicker, and then irregular, and then he came.

Back when she had been dating--which seemed like forever ago--Samantha had given the occasional blow-job. It didn't feel as good as sex, and it didn't taste that great, but it was the sort of thing that guys really liked, and she'd done it.

Come tasted as bad as she remembered, but she held it in her mouth, rather than swallowed, as C.J. zipped up and closed the door, leaving her to the darkness of the closet. It tasted bad, but it also tasted like sex, like having done a good job. She held it for a while, and then swallowed, and then licked her fingers where she'd touched him.

Maddie didn't mention any of that when she let her out, to roam the apartment as she worked. Just that faint smile, that echo of the look she'd had the night before, when C.J. had been fucking her ass. "Truth is, though," she said, a little later. "We might have to get you a taller cage, so that you can get your mouth up to waist height--it's not fair to make people kneel when they want to use your mouth. Now, I want to hurt you, so up on the couch, hands and knees."

Up on the couch meant pain, so she was already shaking a little as she climbed up into position; there was that faint approving grin from Maddie, and then she set to work with the riding crop.

Legs and thighs and ass and feet, until Samantha was whimpering with every stroke, trying to get away. It wasn't as hard as when Lisa hit her, but it was more precise. It was kind of like Maddie was doing it as a workout, or like a chore that she had to attend to, like washing the dishes or folding laundry or something.

Whatever it was, it worked; Samantha was hurting, and grateful to be allowed back off the furniture, and also she was turned on and breathing hard.

"We'll do some edging a little later," said Maddie, slapping her bruised and sensitive ass.

Something to look forward to, really. Not that it was easy; it'd been days since she'd been allowed to come, and she'd been worked up a lot. But Maddie knew when to let the pressure to ease, without pushing her over the edge.

Lisa didn't, though. Or she knew, but didn't care, when she was into it. The next few days, Samantha was able to keep from orgasming--she'd pull away, and whine, and do her best to let Lisa know that she was close, but after the weekend was over, and C.J. had fucked her hard, three times, she lost it.

It was on Saturday night, and Lisa was spanking her in the living room. She'd gotten herself close, grinding against Lisa's leg as she hit her ass, but then she was a little too close, and Lisa didn't stop.

There was a plug in her ass, and a dildo in her mouth, and those both sort of pushed her further along.

It was probably because she was too worked up. C.J. was more interested in Maddie than he was in her--there was something a little guilty in the way he looked at her, when he was done--but even though Maddie had made sure she felt a little calmer after each session with C.J., there was something about the feel of his hands on her body, his cock inside her, the movement of body against body.

Point was, her gasps got quicker, and the roll of her hips turned into uncontrollable thrusts.

Lisa didn't let up, didn't let her pull away, and even though Samantha fought it back, she came, collapsed across Lisa's lap.

The cuffs lit up, and stayed lit up; Samantha yelled, twitched, tried to get loose.

"Collar off," said Maddie. "And cuffs."

Samantha did what she was told, and then stood there, shivering.

"Go get dressed," said Maddie. "Maybe you'll get those back in a few days."

"In a few days?" asked Lisa, as Samantha tried to find her footing. "But I have off tomorrow."

"Should've thought about that before you pushed her over the line," said Maddie. "You can go to sleep whenever you like, Samantha. On your side of the bed. And do what you can to sleep on your back, or it'll set back the recovery on the nipple piercing."

Samantha made her unsteady way to the bedroom, not sure how she felt about any of that. She was sore, and she was aware of how she was sore, in a way she hadn't been for a while. But it hadn't been that satisfying an orgasm, and she'd fought against it the whole way.

"I don't see why I don't get oral just because she was bad," said Lisa, grumpily.

"If you want her, you can talk to her about that," said Maddie. "Take her out for dinner or something. But--"

"But that's not the sort of relationship I want with her," said Lisa.

"Then you'll have to trust me," said Maddie. "I've been making good progress, and we'll react to setbacks the way I want."

By the time Samantha was dressed--it was really strange and uncomfortable to have a bra on, she hadn't worn one for days--Lisa had more or less made her peace with things. But she didn't look happy, and went to sleep pretty soon afterward. As did Maddie. Samantha sat up a little longer, reading, feeling a little jittery and sad. It wasn't a bad book--it was a sort of old-fashioned anthology of crime writing, and there was a leisurely sort of good humor about it--but she couldn't really concentrate on it.

When she finally gave up on the book, she went to the bathroom, and brushed her teeth, and used the toilet. The toilet, not the bathtub, and that didn't feel exactly right.

Maddie was asleep, on her side, and Samantha stood at the door for a little while, trying to think about how she felt about her, about what was going on, and what was going to happen. She didn't get any answers, though, and after a while, she lay down on her back, and tried to sleep.

It wasn't easy. She didn't have the cuffs on, so she wasn't being shocked, but it was. . . it was too big and open for sleeping, really, and there wasn't anything keeping her from turning over onto her stomach and jiggling at the nipple rings, and tearing them out or something.

And the bed was too soft.

Samantha eventually slept, uneasily. Next morning, she woke up early, and did a workout--dressed a little more normally that time, which didn't matter much--and took a shower. Only the new shampoo and soap that she'd been using as Sandy was gone, as was the stuff that she'd used as Samantha. So she had to use Maddie's shampoo and stuff. And even though she didn't have any orders, she made sure to shave carefully. It was that, or have the constant itch of hair coming back in.

"So," said Maddie, as she came out. "Feel like going to the Met today?"

Lisa was also eating breakfast, and she gave a grunt that probably meant something along the lines of "sure, why not."

"I guess," said Samantha, and started fixing herself breakfast. Which was weird, in itself--yes, cereal tasted better when there was milk in it, and it was easier to eat with a spoon than when she was kneeling on the floor with her hands behind her back. But it was also weird.

"Don't see why she gets rewarded for doing something you didn't want her to do," said Lisa.

"Reward and punishment can be contextual," said Maddie. "Trick is putting them in the right context. Anyhow. It's been a while since I've been there, and it is one of the great repositories of civilization."

"I'm sure," said Lisa. "But maybe next time we go to a repository of civilization where I can sit in my pajamas, not one where I have to put on pants and stand up."

"You mean the internet?" asked Samantha. Then blushed, and looked down at her cereal, for no reason she could understand.

"See," said Lisa. "That's the one. It has all of those pictures and--"

"If you don't want to come, you don't have to," said Maddie. "Imma go get dressed."

It had been a while since Samantha had been to the Met. Mostly, when she used to go, it was by herself. It was better, in a group; they spent a lot of time talking about things, and she got to find out that Lisa liked decorative arts--chairs and vases and all that--and that Maddie really, really liked Rodin.

There was a long, narrow gallery with a lot of his sculptures in it, and Maddie spent a while going from one to another, with that sort of intense, interested look that she sometimes got when she was working Samantha over with whips and sex toys.

"It's the way he contorts people," she explained. "There's so much emotional intensity in the hands and shoulders and . . ."

"And it's amazing that a giant pterodactyl made such an impact in turn-of-the-century sculpture," added Lisa.

Maddie looked at her.

"What?" said Lisa. "I mean, I'm not a racist, but I don't think that giant pterodactyls are generally good at sculpture. I mean, just in terms of scale, these'd be really small for him. And his hands were all the way at the edge of his wings, so it'd be hard to use them both at the same time, on something that scale."

"That is the first time that I've heard a 'I'm not a racist, but' that wasn't immediately contradicted by something racist," said Maddie.

"Well, it's a little racist," said Samantha. "I mean, giant pterodactyls face a lot of prejudice in today's society."

"That aside," said Maddie. "I'm somewhat puzzled why you think that Pierre Auguste Rodin was a giant pterodactyl."

"It was a documentary," said Lisa. "Mostly it focused on Godzilla, but Rodan definitely put in an appearance. One of Attenborough's, I think."

"Life of Kaiju?" said Samantha.

"Right, that's the one."

Maddie gave a sad shake of her head. "Nerds," she said.

"Yeah, well," said Lisa. "People who go into radiology are looking for a speciality which involves playing a very boring video game for the rest of their lives, and which requires as little contact with patients as possible. It used to be that it paid well, but now it doesn't even have that. It's only nerds left, here."

"Books are cool, and are for cool people," said Samantha. "No nerds allowed in publishing!"

Another sad shake of Maddie's head. "And I suppose that while it's entirely anecdotal at this point, there does seem to be at least some connection between autism spectrum and being into BDSM, which is how I keep finding myself associating with you people. Anyhow, look at this one, nerds."

They looked. It was, apparently, Eve, who had her arms crossed in front of her, and was sort of burying her face in one of her arms.

"Okay?" said Lisa, after a little bit.

"Hot, right?" said Maddie.

Lisa looked a little longer. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" she said.

Samantha wasn't entirely sure what they were seeing. It wasn't . . . as far as she could tell, Eve didn't even have a pussy--just came to a triangle between her legs, and her breasts were covered, and in general, looked a little blocky and middle aged. They'd spent the morning walking past way prettier women in paintings, some of whom were nude. Although pretty much none of them had visible external genitalia.

"The pose?" she asked, feeling stupid.

"Not exactly," said Maddie, "though the way her feet look is. . . it's how ashamed and abject she looks, really. That's great, and that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. Good old Rodin."

"He was a credit to pterodactyls everywhere," said Samantha.

"Okay, but now you are coming up on racism against pterodactyls," said Lisa.

"Anyhow," said Maddie. "There was that Chinese decorative stuff you wanted to see?"

"Yes!" said Lisa. "They have these pillows that are lovely, but which are also the worst pillows in the world."

On the way there, Lisa went around a corner a little too fast, and slammed into a guy, and that spilled out half her purse. There was a super awkward little while as they tried to gather everything up without clonking heads with each other, as Lisa and the guy were apologizing, and Maddie was standing off to the side, looking amused. Then getting to the Chinese decorative arts galleries was a little complicated, because they were off in a weird corner, where you had to take an elevator that was like a tiny exhibit gallery, with vases in it.

But they were super empty--Samantha had been to the museum dozens of times, but hadn't ever noticed those rooms--and that was where Lisa noticed that she'd picked up the guy's phone, instead of hers.

Maddie was immediately interested. "Locked?" she asked.

"He has my phone!" said Lisa "That's got my life in it."

"And we'll get it back, if this one isn't locked. Is yours?"

"You can answer calls without doing the code thing," she said, as Maddie took the phone away from her. "What are you doing?"

"Score," said Maddie. "No lock, and no picture of someone else as his lockscreen. We'll call you up in a second. Let's see about bookmarks, shall we?"

"We shall not," said Lisa. "This is appalling."

"Look," said Maddie. "He was cute. You bumped into each other in a museum, which is like how people meet in romantic comedies. And now we have a chance to see if he's gay or asexual or involved or, like, a meninist or a guy who is deeply involved in some sort of politics or. . ."

She trailed off. "Right. On reddit a little, but not the most worrying sort of subreddits."

"Maddie," said Lisa. "Stop."

"Look, this is how I found out about Samantha," said Maddie. "And you're not disappointed there, right?"

"I. . ." Lisa trailed off, then shrugged. "Maybe not," she said. "You're thinking of sex-slaving this guy too?"

"No," said Maddie. "At least, not now. If I'm going to try two at a time, it'd be as a matched set, and I'd want them starting at the same time, so I can get a sense of which one responds better to what sort of treatment--it's raccoons washing and pigeons pecking again; you can make a raccoon bump things with his nose, but it makes life so much easier if you're cutting with the grain."

As she was talking, she was looking through the phone; there was a sort of off-handed quality to how she was talking, like she wasn't paying that much attention to what she was saying. "Right," she said. "There's the porn. Little vanilla, but there are at least some threesomes in there, which is encouraging."

She gave Lisa the phone back, and she looked at it like it was unclean.

"Don't worry," said Lisa. "Just looked at browser history and such. No traces. Call your phone, talk a bit, go meet him the cafeteria to get your phone back, and maybe see if he'll pay for overpriced ice cream."

"This isn't a date," said Lisa. "I don't even know his name."

"So find it out, and make a date," said Maddie. "I mean, you're not going to be getting any from her for the next few days, anyway."

"Next few days," said Lisa. "But you said a day."

"A day for any collar," said Maddie. "It's important to make this thing clear--there'll be a few days of the Samantha collar at a minimum, and depending on how she performs, maybe she'll get the Sandy collar back before next weekend."

"Ugh," said Lisa, and dialed.

"Hi?" she said. "Right, yeah. I'm Lisa, and-- yeah, sorry about that, it's just . . . uh huh . . . yeah, I need my phone back too, and. . . sure. The roof cafe? That sounds great, lemme just check with them--"

Lisa looked at Maddie. "You guys coming?" she said.

Maddie shook her head. "At some point, you'll have to explain Samantha to him, but it's probably a little soon. We'll head back, and see you later."

Lisa glared at Maddie, but then said, "no, they're heading out for lunch--yeah, I'll meet you there. Great!"

"Good luck!" said Maddie, cheerfully, as Lisa gave her another dirty look, and then headed for the elevator.

"Questions?" asked Maddie.

"How did you make them bump into each other and also switch phones?" asked Samantha.

Maddie laughed. "Good attitude, but not entirely justified in this case. The trick is taking advantage of possibilities, not creating them. Anyhow. We're apparently headed out for lunch, so let's head out and lunch. And then I'll see if I can lure C.J. out of the office for an hour or two. You should take your day off; go to the library or something."

Lunch wasn't bad, but the day off was a little lonely, actually. The thing was, Samantha had mostly enjoyed being alone before, but what Maddie had been doing sort of combined the advantages of being around people and also being by herself--mostly, Samantha wasn't required to contribute to conversations or come up with ideas of things to do or whatever. But there were people around, and with Maddie, there was always the faint hint? threat? of sex around as well.

So it was the library and the Union Square Barnes and Noble and walking around New York in autumn, which were what she would normally do when she had free time, but it was a little flat, for whatever reason.


	8. Chapter 8

Next morning, it was the Samantha collar, and that wasn't flat. It wasn't as good as the Sandy collar, in terms of sex, because she wasn't allowed to even participate in orgasms, and there was that thing where Maddie made her talk about her sex fantasies, and there was a sustained period of edging, but at least she had her top off, and at least there was the way that Lisa looked at her.

Seemed her date with Nathan had gone okay--Maddie managed to extract the fact that she was going to be seeing him again on Thursday night--but she hadn't slept with him, and it seemed that she'd gotten used to having someone there to have sex with, when she wanted sex.

Which was. . . in theory, Samantha could've taken the collar off, and asked Lisa to go out for dinner on Tuesday night, or something, and, well, moved from Maddie's bedroom to Lisa's bedroom. But that seemed like a scary sort of step, and it would've made it all something that she was doing, rather than something that was being done to her, and there was the chance that she'd get the Sandy collar back before too long, and she'd be able to see what else Maddie had planned.

If Lisa had pushed for it, Samantha probably would've gone along with it. For one thing, it would mean more sex, and for another, Lisa would probably be okay with Samantha getting orgasms even without having clamps on her nipples. Or at least she would've been if Maddie hadn't made a big fuss about it--but that was only once, and couldn't matter too much. But just like Samantha, Lisa probably wanted to see what else Maddie was going to come up with.

Samantha had mixed feelings about some of the stuff that had come before, but overall, it was pretty great. And there was that sex party when the nipples healed. That was . . . well, if the nipples ever would heal, which seemed unlikely. There were these gross crust things there all the time. She wasn't allowed to pick at them, and they mostly came off with the saline soak and then a shower.

Lisa wasn't worried by the stuff on her nipples. "Lymph," she said, when Samantha asked her about it. "All piercings do that, it's just that it's a bit more noticeable with nipples. It's a bit like blood, but . . . point is, don't worry about it. And don't pick at it. It'll be fine. Eventually."

The thing was, she hadn't been able to ask Lisa about that sort of thing when she was wearing the Sandy collar, and and now that Maddie wasn't letting her wear the Sandy collar, Lisa was a little grumpy about not being able to do what she wanted to do to Samantha. But the advice seemed sound, anyway.

Samantha was on the verge of suggesting that Lisa could do what she wanted with her despite not having Maddie's collar and approval, but she didn't--it had just been so long since she'd had any sort of sex out of that framework it seemed kind of scary and like a bad idea.

At least she had the Samantha collar. She did have to talk a bit, and wasn't allowed to watch when Maddie shifted things around with the cage in the closet. But it was okay, and then on Wednesday, she got the Sandy collar back.

Lisa fucked her pretty much first thing in the morning; at some point during the time when Samantha wasn't allowed to be Sandy, Lisa had bought an uncomfortably large strap-on, and she fucked Samantha's ass for like a half hour before replacing that with a plug, and letting Samantha lick her out. And then the next night, C.J. came over, and talked Maddie into letting Samantha lick his asshole while he fucked Maddie.

That wasn't something that Samantha had ever done, and it certainly wasn't something that she'd wanted to do, really, not before she'd started with Maddie. But the idea had been growing on her, and she might have mentioned it a few times during those sessions where Maddie would reward her for talking about her fantasies and punish her for being quiet.

It was also the closest she'd come to having sex with Maddie. Her ankles had been tied together, and her wrists were fastened together behind her back, and then chained to her ankles, so it was a little tricky to stay balanced on the bed, as C.J. fucked Maddie. But she did, and she managed to get her tongue in, between his thrusts.

He'd showered before sex, so it mostly tasted of skin, but there was more hair there than was comfortable, and . . . and after a while, basically nobody was paying attention to her.

There were the sort of half-grunting exhalations that C.J. made when he got close, and there were the noises that Maddie was making, and she was just there to make things a little more fun--like she was a novelty condom, or a butt-plug, or something.

They didn't turn off the shocks or anything after they finished. But Maddie did give her a lazy sort of smile, C.J.'s come oozing a little out of her pussy. Samantha really, really wanted to lick her clean, but that wasn't an option; C.J. moved her to the cage on the floor, and she fell asleep there, where she was supposed to be.

She didn't keep the Sandy collar on the whole time. There was work that she had to do, and it did get a little boring after a while. While she was wearing the Sandy collar, she wasn't supposed to read or talk, or even watch TV. She was for sex, and she got put in the closet when she wasn't being used.

At least, at first. When those two weeks were off, and they were both working again, there were times that she wore that Sandy collar to work. And there, she had to read and write and talk, which was sort of out of the theme. But there was her assignments for edging and practicing with toys, and there was lunch in C.J. aunt's apartment.

Turned out, Maddie decided that she'd eat there every day. Samantha would buy lunch, and take it there. She'd put the food on a plate, put on the rest of her cuffs, a blindfold, and then eat off that plate, on her hands and knees; when it was done, she'd wait there for the timer to ring, then she'd get dressed and go back to work.

Most days, that was it--it was a nice apartment, really nice, the sort of place rich people had. She'd stay on her hands and knees, alone, and wait, and then leave. But some times, C.J. would come over, and fuck her ass--always her ass, in that apartment, not her mouth, and he'd usually pull out at the end, and finish on her, rather than in her. And since she wasn't allowed to do anything but stay on her hands and knees and wait until the timer rang, it would dry there, and she'd feel it for the rest of the afternoon.

It was. . . Samantha's pulse quickened every time she let herself into that apartment, and when she had to take a break from the Sandy collar, for whatever reason, she found herself at least a little disappointed by her lunches, no matter where she took them. There was that break that she got after she made someone come, and even though she didn't have the cuffs on at all when she wasn't wearing that collar, not having them on wasn't the same as having them on, and having them be shut off.

While it got a little easier to slip into the Sandy collar's frame of mind each time, she never was able to keep it on for longer than a week at a time. At least with the Samantha collar, she could have conversations, and Maddie made sure that whenever she had an invitation to a thing, she'd be wearing either no collar or the Samantha collar, and she'd go.

At first, it was always no collar, but after a while, she got comfortable enough to go with the Samantha collar. News about her relationship got around--nothing too specific, or at least, she didn't think there was anything too specific, but people knew that there was a sort of BDSM thing with her and Maddie, and they knew which one of them was in charge. Not hard to figure that one out.

And then there was a different sort of party, which was coming closer--there was less lymph crusting around the piercings, and while her nipples were more sensitive than they were before the piercings, way more sensitive, they weren't aching like they had for those first few weeks. Lisa wasn't going to sign off on things for at least another month, but Maddie had already started her work. And since she didn't want to spoil the authenticity of her data, Samantha wound up spending more time in the closet while Maddie worked.

Since Maddie didn't want Samantha getting too bored, she'd added another refinement. The dildo that went into Samantha's ass was mounted a little more loosely, so that she could move up and down a bit, without it falling out. And there was a vibrator for her to push against.

That took a certain amount of training, both in the cage and out of it. Because Maddie really did not want Samantha orgasming without permission. So she spent a lot of time blindfolded and rubbing herself against a vibrator set on low, getting seriously shocked if Maddie thought that she was getting too close. And since she had all those hours of Samantha edging on tape, Maddie had a pretty good idea of what she looked like when Samantha was close.

After a while, that vibrator was a bit like a metal doorknob next to a long stretch of carpeting. It felt good, but it was also. . . if she pushed up against it, she'd get shocked, sooner or later. It wasn't like the shocks were super intense. But they were uncomfortable, and there was this sense of an impending shock whenever she was up against the vibrator for long.

But it was a thing to do when she was in the cage in the closet, even if she wasn't trying to actually come, and edging like that, for long periods--it sort of became an end to itself; she would be almost half asleep, using the mounted dildos to fuck herself in the ass and in the mouth, trying not to be too loud as she pushed against a vibrator, and got the occasional shock.

After a while, like Maddie had promised, Lisa decided that it was okay for C.J. to use her when she was in the hall closet, provided that nobody else was there. And he did, most of the times he was over; he'd wake up in the morning, have her suck him off, and then go to take his shower. Which Lisa started doing as well. It wasn't even sex, exactly--there wasn't the usual play, where Lisa would hit her, or C.J. would pinch her thighs and get a slow smile as she squirmed. It was just. . . wake up, get oral sex, then go piss and take a shower. Some of the time, C.J. wouldn't even go all the way to orgasm--he'd let her suck him for a bit, while he checked the messages on his phone, and then put the dildo back, and lock her back up in the closet.

Lisa would usually finish, though. Whether or not this was something she told the museum guy--Nathan, apparently--wasn't clear to Samantha, but that was Lisa's problem. It was. . . well, she'd never been the Other Woman before, and that was a little uncomfortable. Maybe a little hot.

Similarly uncomfortable was the fact that Maddie had started letting people know about her plans for a sex party. Or, maybe not party. Sex demo. There wasn't a date yet--the nose piercing was pretty much okay, even according to Lisa, but the left nipple still wasn't completely ready--but she'd picked out some people, and let them know approximately what was going on, and letting them know that they'd have an invitation when the date was finally set.

Some of those were people who Maddie knew and Samantha didn't, and some of them were people who Samantha knew, but Maddie didn't tell her who she'd been inviting, which was actually kind of hot. But also uncomfortable, particularly when there were parties, or other social things that Samantha had to go to.

When Lucy and Han threw an engagement party, Samantha decided to wear her collar--the deal was that If she wasn't wearing any collar, she had to wear the Samantha collar for two days before she could get the Sandy collar back, and C.J. was coming over the next day, and she wanted to fuck him.

Neither or Lucy or Han seemed to notice it. But Svetlana did--she got a bit embarrassed when she saw it, and wasn't able to talk to Samantha after that. To Zack's credit, he clearly did notice, but he was able to maintain eye contact, and talk about work. His friend--Noah, the one who cheated at trivia night--just sort of looked at it, then gave a huge grin to Maddie, and spent the rest of the night sort of checking her out. Which was less okay.

Rania though, actually pulled her over, and talked about how she was impressed that Samantha was going through with something like that, and how the world would be a better place if more people engaged with their sexuality, rather than tried to avoid them.

Rania was a bit like that. But it was nice to get at least a little validation, rather than nothing but slightly creepy stares.

Since that first time Samantha had gone over the edge while wearing the Sandy collar, she hadn't pushed too close. There'd been a few times when she'd gone without any collar, both to avoid people focusing on that at parties, and because ever so often she needed a break. Not wearing a collar had sort of reminded her of failing like that, and it was. . . she didn't want to go over, and she didn't. Maddie didn't push her too hard about edging, either--she had to edge, when she had to edge, but she didn't have to get too close to the edge.

But it had been two months since her piercings, and they weren't lymphing at all, and Samantha really, really wanted to come. She was having more sex than she'd ever had in her life, and not just sucking off C.J. and Lisa--at least one of them would use her, most nights, and some of the time they'd use her more than once, Lisa with her strap-ons, and C.J. with his cock.

Mostly it was her ass, which had gotten to the point where it felt really good when it was being fucked, but sometimes C.J. would fuck her cunt. Maddie wasn't 100% on board with that, but she let him do it, provided that the shock frequency was turned way up. And it felt nice, but not nice enough to come from--certainly, no vibrators on her when there was anything in her cunt.

Eventually, finally, the left nipple stopped lymphing, and there wasn't any soreness or irritation, even after Maddie swapped the rings out for different ones--she had small gold ones, and bigger steel ones. They were the same width wire, but those steel rings weren't for wearing in public unless she wanted to look way more hardcore about that sort of thing than was okay at work.

Which meant that it was time for Maddie to do her demo, which meant that it was time for Samantha to spend a couple of days as Sandy, and tied up in the closet.

Party was set for a Sunday night, and the cage in the closet was just big enough to lie down in, if she curled up tight. So she was taken out blindfolded, to eat and use the bathroom, and then put back away while Maddie and Lisa set things up, and Lisa bitched a little about the whole sex party thing.

"Look," said Maddie, close enough to the closet door that Samantha could hear her. "It'll be fine. There's no way the hospital will be mad at you for having an unconventional sex life, even if they find out, which they won't."

"No way," said Lisa, not sounding convinced.

"No way," repeated Maddie. "Besides, C.J. is pretty solidly on the partnership track, and he'll sue the hell out of them if they let you go, even if it's for a valid reason."

"Yeah," said Lisa. "But the thing is, I'm not actually that nervous about it. Just a little jittery."

"Fair enough," said Maddie. "It's something new. Go fuck Sandy's ass for a bit--that always calms you down."

"Does it?" asked Lisa.

"Well, no, but it's fun to watch."

"I think you'll have enough fun once the guests start showing up," said Lisa. Then they moved far enough away from the closet that Samantha couldn't follow the conversation any more.

Which was fine. If Lisa was a little jittery, she was a lot jittery. Maddie still wasn't going to tell her the guest list, just that there were going to be about fifteen people there, which seemed like a lot. More than a lot; it was a two bedroom apartment, but it wasn't one of those giant pre-war apartments, so it was going to be a little tight in the living room, however they set it up.

And being jittery meant like she had to pee a little more than usual, and while she could reach out and scratch at the closet door, they didn't necessarily hear her or pay attention to that right away.

Eventually they did, and it was Lisa who led her out of the closet to the bathroom, a lead clipped to her collar.

As Samantha climbed into the bathtub, Lisa sat down on the edge of the tub, and scratched the back of Samantha's neck. It was a thing that she'd do when they were having sex, after she was finished, or when she needed a little break between activities. Samantha couldn't help it; she relaxed into that touch, even as she started peeing.

"You sure you're okay with this?" asked Lisa, and Samantha gave an immediate nod.

"No, but seriously," said Lisa. "I mean, it's not like you're doing anything wrong, but it's . . . it's going to be part of who people think you are, when it's done. Maddie's a good judge of character, and she's asked people not to gossip. But fifteen people . . . stories are probably going to get around."

Samantha had gotten used to pissing in the tub, more or less. It still wasn't exactly pleasant feeling the spattering on the leg, feeling the heat rising up from that stream of urine running between her hands. It was humiliating and hot and that was the way that she had to pee--those were the rules. But it was more humiliating and hot with someone else there, her hand on Samantha's neck.

Which made it hard to concentrate on Lisa's question, which was a good one. Samantha gave that little shudder, as the flow stopped tried to come up with an answer.

"I know that you want to come real bad," said Lisa. "But if you want, I could take care of that for you. Maddie'll be pissed, but, I mean, it'd be okay in the end."

Maddie would be pissed. And she'd . . . well, Lisa was nice; there was something great about the way she'd beat up Samantha, and get her orgasm--not with the strap-on, that wasn't really for that--but she'd use Samantha's mouth, or she'd grind against her thigh, or chest, and then she'd give Samantha that nap on the floor. It wasn't a bad sort of relationship.

But it wasn't the same sort of thing that Samantha's relationship with Maddie was. And she'd gotten the relationship with Lisa because of what Maddie had done, and she was kind of interested in what else she'd get.

Also, the sex-party-demo-thing that Maddie had planned was the most daring thing that Samantha had ever done, and she wanted to do it. Yeah, maybe people would know that she did it, but that was. . . they'd know that she was willing to do something that'd scare anyone. And she didn't have to do anything; just follow instructions and wait and then have the orgasm she'd been denied for the last two months.

She gave another, firmer nod.

"Okay," said Lisa. "Should be fun. Let's get you cleaned up and back in your closet; lot of things that Maddie wants to set up, and I'm going to have to buy the wine and cheese, apparently."

Wine and cheese? Was she a sex slave, or a science experiment, or a gallery installation?

Something of all of those, maybe. Lisa locked her back in her cage, and Samantha didn't push up against the vibrator at all; just sucked on the mounted dildo, and tried to lose herself in that.

After what seemed like forever, Maddie took her out, and set her up on the coffee table. There was a spotlight on it, and the rest of the room was dark. There were a few computer screens set up on the walls, which was probably the current equivalent of science fair posters, and even though it wasn't set up in front of her, Samantha could see herself edging on one of those screens. She swallowed, hard, tried to keep from falling apart.

"Need a blindfold, Sandy?" asked Maddie.

She nodded.

"You sure?" asked Maddie. "You won't be able to see who the guests are, and I have no intention of telling you."

Another nod, and Maddie tied the blindfold on, and made her final arrangements of the lights and the chairs and stuff. And she set up the vibrator under Samantha's pussy. She was tied to the table, on her hands and knees, but there was enough play that she could lower herself onto it, and pull back up.

Earlier, she'd been too excited to risk it, but at that point, excitement had been replaced by anxiety; a little of the vibrator was exactly what she needed.

Almost as soon as she started pushing up against it, the guests started arriving. At which point, she pulled back, and froze in position.

It was Rania and . . . someone? A guy whose voice she didn't recognize. Maybe Ronan, if he had a cold or something? They said hello to Maddie, and then whoever the someone was asked if he was allowed to touch the exhibit.

"Sure," said Maddie, which wasn't necessarily what Samantha had expected. "I mean, don't put anything inside her, nothing too forceful, and if she objects, you stop."

Samantha trembled as the guy walked by, ran his hand along her side, tugged on her nipple ring. Then he went to look at something else, as Zack and Noah came in. So. Some guy she hadn't known had seen her naked and felt her up. That was . . . she blushed, lowered herself onto the vibrator, and then pulled up away from it; too close.

Naturally, Noah grabbed her breast and squeezed as he passed, at the same time that Zack was fondling her ass. It was . . . well, Samantha wasn't at all sure that she liked it, but she knew that if she pushed down against the vibrator, it wouldn't be long before she went over the edge.

"You let her decide when she gets to come?" asked Noah.

"No," said Maddie. "The thing is, though, that sexual excitement is the primary reinforcer for this, so I want to keep it as high as possible, when she's exhibiting behaviors that I want to reinforce. Here--watch."

Maddie pushed down on Samantha's hips, hard enough to force her down on to the vibrator. Samantha gave a needy little whine; she was close, and--

Maddie easied up. "Did you see that twitch?" she asked. "It doesn't take that long to create a connection between a particular form of sexual stimulation and negative stimulus, especially with a subject as responsive as Sandy--"

"Sandy?" asked Zack.

"Did you guys do any of the readings?" she asked. "Part of what's going on is shifting her image of who she is; changing her name is part of building a new set of associations. But the point is, it took a few weeks before she started to associate orgasm from that sort of vibrator with a negative stimulus, and she's not going to be able to do use a vibrator like that without that sort of twitch away when she gets close to orgasm."

"But she could do it," said Rania.

"Absolutely," said Maddie. "It's difficult to distinguish what she can do and what she wants to do, but to the extent that people can choose to do things, she could choose to push through the conditioning and ride the vibrator to orgasm right now."

Samantha eased up on the vibrator, tried to catch her breath.

"Which is why it's so important to look for avenues that match the subject's inclinations--if I was trying to make her bubbly and friendly and active on cam or something like that, it wouldn't work. Sandy wants to be a good girl, and that means quiet and obedient and to some degree distant from her actions. Here; I'll pull up some of the relevant fantasy sessions on screen three?"

In the distance, Samantha heard herself gasping and then saying, 'and maybe there's a vampire, and he's mind-controlled me, so I can't leave, and then when he brings in--' a pause, and then a gasp, as Maddie's crop hit her, 'you know, subjects, I have to keep them happy while he's keeping them in storage? So, like, I'd be fucked by those guys, and I guess girls, and they'll sort of know that bad things are happening, and they'd take that out on me and--'

Another hand on her thigh, weighing, possessive. "Is this one for sale?" asked a man Samantha didn't know, with an accent that Samantha couldn't quite place, at least not right away..

"I hadn't thought that she was your type," said Maddie.

A pause; the hand hefted Samantha's left buttcheek. "Variety is the spice of life," said the man. He sounded older than most of the people in the crowd, and that hand was strong and expert. "And as I get older, the idea of an heir has some appeal--it would be raised by my wife, of course, but I would like to spare her the inconvenience and pain of childbirth."

"I see," said Maddie. "Makes sense. I have to admit, I hadn't been pushing her in that direction, but it's well within the range of her capabilities."

He'd moved from examining Samantha's ass to her hips. "My budget would be in the range of a hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand," he said. "I would expect some improvements before she was sold, of course."

"Of course," said Maddie. "It's a possibility. At the moment, she's not ready for even thinking about that sort of thing, and even if Sandy decides to push herself a little further, there are a few other options that I'll consider for her. But now that I know that you're in the market, it's certainly something I'll bear in mind, either for Sandy or for an upcoming project."

"Naturally," said the man, letting go of Samantha. "I would appreciate something within the next few years, if it could be arranged."

"Naturally," agreed Maddie, and as he left, she leaned over and patted Samantha's head. "You see, Sandy?" she said quietly. "People are really impressed. Two hundred thousand dollars? That's a heck of a lot of money."

It was, and Samantha wasn't at all sure how she felt about about that guy offering to pay Maddie that much for her. Or how she felt about that guy, or how she felt about being sold, or having kids? Which would be raised by someone else? The whole sex demo thing was pushing her beyond her comfort zone already. If that was something that Maddie was considering, she'd--

"You seem a little tense," said Maddie, and pushed down on her hips. "There," she said, as Samantha ground against the vibrator. "That's better; relax. It'll be fine. Nothing happens unless you say it's okay."

There was a little bit of a pause, as Maddie went and mingled. People were talking, but there were enough people talking that she couldn't hear more than a phrase or two for anyone in particular.

Then there was a light touch on her wrist, near the cuffs.

"They shock her?" asked someone. Mark, maybe? Zack?

"Yeah," said Lisa. "Really low intensity stuff, though. I mean, even the punishment button isn't anything serious."

"So how does it work?"

"Here, hold on to her wrist for a bit."

The hand around her wrist tightened, and held. It was warm, and dry.

When the cuff shocked Samantha's wrist, she jerked, just a little, like it always did. "So that's constantly going," said Lisa.

"It's not a huge reaction," said whoever.

"No, but it's a constant annoyance. So she gets rewarded when we take that away."

He let go of her wrist. "This has got to be the sexiest science-y date I've been on. Or the sciencey-ist sexy date."

"Did warn you," said Lisa.

"Also the creepiest. That guy wants to buy her? And Maddie didn't say no?"

"Warned you about that, too," said Lisa. "And you're going to say that you weren't thinking of putting in an offer?"

"I do Java development, and it seems like she costs as much as a shitty apartment in Yonkers. I would kill for a shitty apartment in Yonkers."

"So you did consider it, and realized you couldn't afford it."

"Pretty much." That's who it was--Nathan, the guy from the museum. That was almost as weird as having someone she'd never even seen feeling her up. Someone dating her friend, who'd she'd seen once, and now he'd seen her naked, and needy.

Samantha pushed down on the vibrator, trying to relax.

Nathan laughed, and she flushed. But didn't ease up. "I mean, generally speaking, you're not supposed to talk about wanting to have sex with other girls when you're on a date, but, yeah. Does seem like she'd be fun to have around."

"She really is. And it's too bad that I can't afford something like that either. I mean, maybe once the radiology money starts rolling in."

"And there's a survey we have to fill out?" asked Nathan.

"Apparently," said Lisa. "Maddie likes her data."

"If you disappear, I know exactly who I'm going to blame," said Nathan.

"Well, she did make the offer," said Lisa. "I said no. And it's more like an order form than a survey. Which again, not buying anything on a resident's salary, but it's nice to window shop, I guess. Would I want an a housemaid or a girl who never talks?"

"So long as we're both aware this is a patriarchal fantasy, the housemaid one," said Nathan. "Or both? What's anorgasmic?"

"Means she can't come. And it's not patriarchal. It's my fantasy, and I'm not a patriarch! If I was, I'd have a beard, and that'd be awesome."

"Uh," said Nathan, and then they walked away.

Next time it actually was Zack, who tugged a little at the nipple rings, which left Samantha having to pull away from the vibrator. It had been so long since she'd had someone hurting her nipples, and it felt so damn good.

And then Maddie took the vibrator away. She hadn't said anything, and the blindfold was a good one--of course it was, everything Maddie used was high quality--by the way her hand felt, by the way she . . . Samantha knew it was her, however she knew it, and she relaxed into her bonds. Then Maddie adjusted a few of the ropes that held her to to the coffee table, and gave her a businesslike sort of pat on her pussy.

"Right," said Maddie. "Okay. I think we're ready to start."

The conversations quieted.

"So, okay. There's the close up on screen three, right?"

Maddie's fingers spread Samantha's labia apart. "So, as you can see, she's . . . well, she's pretty ready, at this point."

Samantha blushed, but also rocked back and forth a little, enjoying the little tug on her labia, hoping for more, soon.

Maddie let go, then tugged on Samantha's nipple ring, pulling the nipple taut, and then put the clamp on, just under the ring.

It hurt like hell. It had been a while since she'd worn them, so she wasn't used to that any more, and it hurt worse than it had the first time Maddie had put one of those on her--the nipple rings sensitized things.

Hurt worse and better. Samantha made a small, needy noise, hips working at empty space. Then Maddie's fingers spread her open again. "And as you can see, that helped. On the off chance that someone is actually interested in checking my work, rather than the results, screen two shows her progress. When we started, she really didn't like intense stimulation of the breasts or nipples, but we've gotten her to the stage where that'll visibly increase lubrication."

There was a question that Samantha couldn't quite hear.

"Right, Well, I could use a vaginal plesmograph, Vadim, but those are finicky and unreliable, and I really don't like associating vaginal penetration with sexual pleasure for her. Ignoring aesthetics, that was Samantha's primary method of sexual activity, and I want there to be a clear distinction between Samantha and Sandy. And aesthetics certainly plays a role; here, watch."

A dildo pressed up against Samantha's mouth, and she started to suck, eagerly, and Maddie spread her open again.

"There's a similar reaction to anal stimulation, as well as to performing cunnilingus," said Maddie. "It's . . . well, looking at her, it's appropriate for her to focus on those modes of service, don't you think?"

A few of the guys laughed.

Vadim--the guy who had offered to buy her--asked something else, and Maddie let go of Samantha's pussy. "No, certainly--she can be used vaginally, of course. But I've been working on making that something she finds uncomfortable. Not actively, and that can certainly be reversed, and if . . . well, we'll see what Sandy becomes. But while I want it to be a source of discomfort, I have no interest in removing that capacity."

Then Maddie's finger traced along her clit--lightly, but for the first time in months. Samantha bucked, moaned, her skin alive everywhere.

"Now, it has been a while, and Sandy has been a good girl all day, so I'm going to allow her an orgasm shortly."

Zack asked something.

"I do enjoy denying her," said Maddie. "Not going to pretend I don't. But it's such a powerful tool for conditioning, I can't in good conscience keep her in denial; Sandy will be having orgasms on a regular basis. If I do switch her to permanent denial or work on making orgasms a less pleasant experience for her, it will be after all other behaviors that I want to reinforce or expunge are already in place."

Maddie's finger moved slowly down the length of Samantha's pussy, then back up. Nobody was talking; Samantha moaned a little, and knew they could all hear it. Again, and again.

She pushed against Maddie's finger when she could, tried to be quiet, but and couldn't manage it, fingers and toes clenching and unclenching.

"Mostly," said Maddie, "I've been keeping associations consistent--if a behavior is rewarded every time it occurs, it becomes learned more rapidly. But as far as anal sex goes, not every orgasm she has is linked with anal penetration, and not every penetration is linked with direct sexual stimulation; irregular reinforcement produces a longer-lasting response. And as you can see, the muscle there loosens as Sandy gets close to orgasm. Naturally, it will spasm when climax is reached, but she knows that those feelings are linked."

Samantha clenched a little at that, but then relaxed. She was sucking intently on the dildo she'd been given, and maybe Maddie would put something up her ass when she came?

It was hard to think. There was the blindfold, anyway, and that teasing, not-quite-enough pressure from Maddie's finger.

"It's probably best to think of Sandy as a transitional form, but whatever she turns into is definitely going to enjoy anal sex. Among other things."

Now there were two fingers on her clit, pushing back and forth on either side, lubricated with her juices.

"Go ahead, Sandy," said Maddie.

Samantha pushed down, and the fingers didn't move away. For a moment or two, it felt like she wasn't going to be able to finish; that something had broken inside because of that long delay, that she would just keep getting hornier and hornier and never be able to release. Samantha was making noises--groans and grunts and less identifiable sounds, not able to stop, barely aware that she was making them.

Then, finally, it was like a wall fell apart.

Maddie's fingers kept moving as Samantha came, spasming wildly. It was so intense that it hurt--her stomach was twisting, and every muscle was clenching and relaxing at the same time, and it went on and on and on, and it was like she was shaking herself apart as she came. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't. . . it was intensely pleasurable, and it hurt like a stomach cramp, and it didn't stop.

Finally, artfully, Maddie teased the last contraction out of Samantha's pussy, and she collapsed in her ropes. There was a slight patter of applause, which Samantha was just aware enough of to blush at.

Maddie untied her, retied her, moving quickly, leaving Samantha tied up on her side, curled around the t-shirt that Maddie had slept in the night before. Samantha was still naked and blindfolded in a room full of people, but she just didn't care any more; she barely heard Maddie explaining what the deal was with the t-shirt, didn't really pay attention to what anyone else was saying.

Well, she did notice when Maddie explained that if there was going to be a transfer, she'd start with conditioning Sandy to respond to her new owner's smell, and that this was one of the reasons why she was going to keep allowing her orgasms--that was serious enough to get through. But everything else was just noise.

Samantha lay there, and breathed, and sucked on a dildo. There were a few light touches as people made their way out, and then there were the sounds of people leaving, and then furniture being rearranged, and finally she was pulled back up her hands and knees, and tied there.

"So," said Maddie. "Any objections to allowing Nathan to use you?"

Samantha shook her head.

"Good!" said Maddie. There were still chairs being moved in the background. "Lisa hasn't asked yet, and there's still the matter of the STD tests, but . . . well, if she brought him to this, I think that she's about ready for that."

"About," said Lisa. "Not entirely. I mean, he's okay with me fucking her, so logically, I should be okay with him fucking her, but--"

"But women are irrational and flighty," said Maddie.

"Yeah, maybe a little," said Lisa, and sighed. "That was so weird, Maddie. And the weirdest part was how everyone else more or less went along with it. I mean, you were finger fucking a girl in front of a crowd, and everyone was listening to your psychology lecture, and following along with the notes. It was like a trombone recital or something, not public sex."

"Well," said Maddie. "People were a little more interested than they would've been for a trombone recital."

"But they weren't . . . I was one of them, and I was totally going along with your trombone recital. I don't get it, and I'm not sure I'm going to get it."

"You can do a lot with framing," said Maddie. "If it had been presented in a sexy context, rather than a science context, they'd have reacted in a more situationally appropriate way. I mean, one Barry White CD or something, and there'd have been people making out on the couch, and it's expensive to clean that couch. But it's also that this is something that a lot more people are interested in than you would think, so they didn't want to wolf-whistle or whatever, because they didn't want to miss anything. I mean, I picked out people who I thought would be interested, but it's not like I had to look too far for candidates."

"If you say so," said Lisa. "They certainly all filled out their order forms."

"Those aren't order forms," said Maddie. "For one thing, I'm not going to be making someone for everyone here, and for another, I'm going to be pushing Sandy along in ways that are appropriate for her, whether or not it's what . . . whether or not it's what whoever it is who is going to get her is going to want."

There was the noise of papers being shuffled. "So why do you want to know that Vadim wants her to be dehumanized and sensory deprived, if you aren't taking him up on that?"

"Give me that," said Maddie. "Okay, here. First of all, it's interesting about Dr. Lebedev; he doesn't want Sandy to be able to stand or talk, and yeah--that's about dehumanization, but there's other stuff going on there. I think that her not seeing is also part of him having sort of a specific idea of how things should be, and trying to make them all like that. Also that's an interesting challenge."

"So it's more you creeping on people who come to your parties than anything else?"

"No," said Maddie. "I mean, yes, bit of creeping on people who come to my parties. You learn a lot about people when they tell you what they want, and I like knowing things about people. Also, a bit of looking for interesting challenges. I mean, Vadim wants someone who doesn't respond to any human language. I can suppress some responses, but not everything, I don't think. Or at least, I haven't tried anything along those lines."

"But that's not the main thing?"

"Nope," said Maddie. "Not order forms, though I'm sort of interested in people's order forms, not looking into your head or Vadim's head, or whatever, though obviously, interested in what's going on inside people's heads. It's more--I mean, looking into people's heads, yeah, but not individuals. Looking into everyone's heads. You find out what people want from sex slaves, you get a sense of what they want from people in general--it's, like, if you imagine someone who'll do whatever you want, that tells me what you want. Zack wants someone who'll be attentive and polite and do his chores and participate in his hobbies? I mean, sure, he wants anal only and whenever he wants it, but the boy wants a friend, which is interesting and potentially useful to know. And Noah, who wants her to wear clothing and have a job--that's a fundamentally middle class sort of idea of what a sex slave should be; he's more interested in the slave part than the sex part, and fair enough--having to work sucks, and it's middle-class people who have to work, unless they get a slave to work for them. Rich people don't have to work, and wouldn't waste a slave on that. So it's, you know, I can look at this stack of papers, and see what people's lives are missing, in general."

"You are the creepiest roommate I've ever had," said Lisa.

"So you're saying that you didn't fill out your order form?"

"Didn't say that I was non-creepy," said Lisa. "Which is a bit new, but, you know, working out okay. Speaking of which, mind if I borrow her for a bit?"

"It was a fun session, wasn't it?" asked Maddie. "Go ahead."

Samantha lifted her head up, wriggling a little. And then Lisa's pussy replaced the dildo she was sucking on, and she licked, and tried to angle her head up to push in as best she could, her nose ring trapped between her and Lisa, a clip suddenly fastened on one of her nipples.

It didn't take long before Lisa was gasping, her hand twisting in Samantha's hair, and when she was finished, the click-buzz that said that the refractory period had started was almost like being hit between the eyes with a hammer; Samantha had been tired, but then she was all but unconcious.

"Very nice," said Maddie. "I'm going to put her away, and then I've got these forms to look through."

"Sure," said Lisa. "Right. And if she's okay with Nathan being on her list, I guess I'm okay with that too. I mean, it's not like . . . it's different than making love, you know? It's just sex."

"Exactly," said Maddie, shepherding Samantha back to her cage. "That is, it's sex, but not with a person. It's pretty great."

Something more for Samantha to process, but she was nowhere near up to that. Not after that orgasm, not after licking Lisa out.


	9. Chapter 9

She kept the Sandy collar on for more than a week after that party. There were occasional looks--maybe Maddie had invited someone from her office, or the story had spread some other way? And in general, there was a lot that she'd have to face when she went back to being Samantha, and it was a lot easier to hide from all that with the Sandy collar on.

But not forever. Turned out that her mother and step-dad were going to be in town, and while Samantha didn't really have that much to say to either of them, she didn't want to be rude, and she definitely didn't want to try explaining any sort of collar to them. And also, C.J. had spent Friday and Saturday enjoying how enthusiastic Samantha got when Maddie was making her come that he'd fucked her so hard she needed the break anyway. So, after her morning swim--now that the piercings had healed, she was able to go swimming again, which was pretty great--she took off her collar, and got dressed.

"Oh, Samantha," said Maddie, when she got back upstairs. "There's some stuff I wanted to talk to you about--is now good?"

Samantha checked her phone. There were like a thousand missed calls from over the weekend, including two from Rania which were going to be awkward, but. . . "sure," she said. "I've got to go out for lunch with my mom in like, three hours, but other than that, I'm good."

Not exactly good, but it was that or answer people's phone calls.

"Right. First of all, I'm thinking of adding some names to your dance card. Any objections to Zack, Noah, or Nathan?"

"Having seen Zack's car, I'm going to need a bit of reassurance about his personal hygiene," said Samantha.

"It'll be fine," said Maddie. "I'll let him know it's a requirement. And also, Rania is a bit concerned, and wants to talk to you about things; would tonight be good?"

"If it's at somewhere decent for dinner," said Samantha. "My mom is flying in from Indiana to eat at an Olive Garden, and I'm. . . yeah. I'll talk about anyone about anything after that."

"Done," said Maddie. "I'll set it up."

"That it?" asked Samantha.

"More or less," said Maddie. "Or was there something that you wanted to talk about?"

Samantha hesitated. There was, but she also kind of didn't want to talk about it. But Maddie was waiting, and she had that look which meant that she wanted Samantha to do something, and that sooner or later Samantha was going to do it.

"Okay," said Samantha. "About the whole pictures online thing. What exactly were you thinking about that, with that?"

The last time Maddie had mentioned that had been months ago, back when they first started, but she didn't take too long to work out what Samantha was talking about.

"Well," she said. "I mean, it's not like you'd be doing direct camgirl type interactions; the last thing I need is you doing what some guy tells you to do, without proper reinforcement or method or anything. And it's not really . . . point is, you'd keep doing what you're doing. There'd be some videos up at the free sites--pornhub and so on--and there'd be a paywall locked site for the full videos and so on."

"Right," said Samantha. "But, like, what would they be seeing, and also, how much income is there from that?"

Maddie shook her head. "It's not going to be anonymized in any way," she said. "It's just too easy to get free porn to try to get away with that stuff. If you do it, they'll see your face. They don't get, like, a last name and an address, but if someone watches one of those videos, they'll be able to recognize you."

Samantha bit her lip, and nodded. She'd been wearing a blindfold at that party, but they'd known exactly who she was. This wasn't much further than that.

"As far as income . . . well, like I said, there are more people who are interested in this sort of thing than you'd think. I can guarantee five hundred a month, no question--that's people who I know, who subscribed to previous projects--and since you're a girl, there'll be more."

"More?"

"Gay guys don't want to pay that much to see a guy being topped by a girl, and there are always more people who identify with the sub than with the top. Straight guys, though, they're fine with two girls, and they're still the ones who pay for internet porn. Point is, maybe three thousand a month or so? I mean, it'd start at two, maybe two and a half, and it could go up to about five thousand a month, tops."

Samantha nodded.

"Ready to go for it?" asked Maddie.

"Not yet," said Samantha. "I mean, I don't know. Haven't really been enjoying work that much lately, and it'd be nice to . . . you know, not."

"Fair enough," said Maddie. "I mean, there'd be some work--light housekeeping, edging for the camera, that sort of thing. And you'd have to get downtown for lunch, most days--three more guys fucking you, and maybe also Rania, if you soothe her, you'll have to be somewhere centrally located to service them."

That sounded . . . well, it wasn't as though she was going to quit her job right away. And it did sound as though lunch breaks were going to be a bit more interesting anyway.

And the fact was, she was making three thousand a month or so after having been in publishing for five years, and it wasn't as though there were vast riches on the horizon.

"Could I . . . um. I know that you're not a big fan of me reading while I'm wearing the Sandy collar, but if I could do copyediting, that sort of thing during the day, it'd be a lot more practical."

"That's true," said Maddie. "I mean, I'm barely okay with you reading when you're wearing the Samantha collar. But. . . I mean, for work stuff, fair enough. Could be that you'll wind up with someone who needs that second income, so keeping your skills up is probably worthwhile at this point."

Samantha flushed, looked away. "About that," she said. "I take it that--"

"I haven't even gone through everyone's surveys!" said Maddie. "Let alone decided on what you'd be best for, and who . . . look. When I've come up with a plan for your next collar, I'll let you know, and you can ask about it when you're interested."

"My next collar," said Samantha.

"If you want it," said Maddie. "If not, we can keep doing what we're doing--it seems to be working out okay, more or less."

It did, more or less. Well, not the part where it was lunch out with her mom and step-dad, but that wasn't exactly Maddie's fault.

When the time came, she went, and did what she usually did. There were stories about relatives who were doing better than her, and rambling anecdotes about how someone at the airport was rude in some fashion, and that was because of how New York was bad, and so on. But then it ended, and she was able to go for a walk in the park, and watch kids feeding super-aggressive ducks.

After that, anything would be good, and apparently Samantha had reservations at an Ethiopian place near Rania's apartment.

There had been an Ethiopian place not far from Samantha's dorms in college which had been just about the cheapest decent restaurant they could find, so she'd gotten used to it. This place was a lot better than that--the injera was made with actual teff, rather than the sourdough that a lot of places went with. And it was so much better than Olive Garden.

"So," said Rania, after they'd gotten started, "how was your mom's visit?"

"My mother is someone who grew up in New York, and is convinced that rural Indiana is better. Extrapolate from there."

Rania winced. "That bad?"

"I just had lunch at an Olive Garden. I had to pay for three people to eat garbage, when there are a million restaurants that are so much better that cost . . ." Samantha looked at the menu, did some simple math. "A third of what that place charged. Literally a third."

"Wait, you had to pay? But I thought that your stepfather was--"

"Yes I had to pay, and yes he's pretty well off," said Samantha. "You see, they're visiting me, so I'm the host, so I have to pay." She shook her head. "Anyhow. Moving on."

"Not quite yet," said Rania. "I have two questions."

The food was excellent--Samantha was going to get another order of sambusas as soon as a waiter got too close--but it was one of those places which kept the light relatively low. Still, she could see the sort of grim determination in Rania's expression.

"Sure," she said.

"First of all, have you considered not putting up with your mom's shit?"

"Often," said Samantha. "But the lines are pretty clearly drawn--if I'm going to maintain a civil relationship with her, I have to put up with that sort of thing. And to preclude a follow-up question, while I've decided not to bother with a civil relationship with my dad for various reasons, the fact is, my mom was a decent parent. We were fed and clothed and housed and she was reasonably affectionate and not an abuser, and so on. I mean, yeah, maybe I'd be happier if I stopped putting up with her shit, but . . . well, I can't quite do that, at the moment."

Rania nodded. "Okay, I guess. I mean, I've met her, and she's also kind of racist and generally unpleasant, but not, like, a monster. But okay. So question two: are you actually better off turning control over to Maddie than continuing with things as they are?"

That was, honestly, a better question. Samantha flagged down a passing waiter, and got her sambusa order in, as well as a glass of honey wine while she thought it through.

"Frankly," she said, when that was done. "Yeah. I mean. . . okay. Didn't have great relationships in school, didn't have great relationships after school, and now things are pretty good, actually."

Rania still didn't seem convinced.

"And also, I mean, it's not as though I'm being brainwashed or mind controlled or anything," said Samantha. "It's something fun, and I keep doing it because it's fun."

"You kind of are being brainwashed," said Raina. "I mean, that was the whole lecture."

Samantha shook her head. "I'll be honest," she said. "Didn't necessarily listen to the whole lecture. I was a little distracted. But if that's being brainwashed, so is any sort of relationship--there are things that I like, and she's been associating them with things that she wants me to like, so now I like both things. It's like the way you started liking baseball after dating Colin--and you still like baseball, even though Colin turned out to be an asshole."

Rania started, then shook her head. "That's different," she said.

Samantha waited.

"It wasn't planned out the way that Maddie is doing it. I mean, maybe it was because he was super into it when I was super into him, but it wasn't like he was giving me a food pellet every time the Mets won."

"Yeah, there's that," said Samantha. "But the fact remains that the Mets suck. I mean, the fact remains that I can back out of this if it stops being fun. But for now, yeah, maybe it's a bit more systematic than getting you to like a terrible baseball team, but really it's fine. For once I'm doing stuff that I've always fantasized about. Not exactly like I fantasized about, but . . . I mean, you know."

It wasn't entirely convincing--Samantha could see that, in the look in Rania's eyes--but it was convincing enough that in the end, Rania was sort of interested in talking to Maddie about doing some photography of Samantha, when she was wearing the Sandy collar.

"I mean, I am dubious about this," she said, in the end. "But there is something there. You're . . . well, transformed. It's interesting."

"Thanks?" said Samantha. "And if Maddie's okay with it, it sounds like it'll be fun."

An awkward lunch, followed by an awkward dinner, but at least there was something good to come out of the dinner.

After that, it was three days before Maddie gave her back the Sandy collar--the breaks got a little longer just about every time she took it off, and at that point, Nathan, Zack and Noah had come back with clean bills of health.

So the new routine was that after Samantha's swim, but before she dressed for work, Maddie wrote the day's sign-ups on her ass. There was always someone who'd come in and use her during lunch, and most days it was more than one guy.

In theory, she could check her ass in a mirror, or with her phone, but it was sort of easier and more fun not to know, to put her blindfold on and kneel. She would eat her lunch like that, and at some point, someone would fuck her, and it was just about them using an available asshole, or a willing mouth.

Sometimes it was two guys, or three, one after the other; once, Lisa came out for lunch, which must have been a huge pain, to get there from the Bronx and back, and used her mouth while Nathan fucked her ass.

It was better than working, that was for sure.

Mostly, the guys didn't have much to do with each other. One weekend, Nathan was over with Lisa, and C. J. was over with Maddie, and they basically didn't say more than two words to each other. They both fucked Samantha, though--Nathan had her give him a blow-job right after dinner, and then, after she cleaned up, C. J. brought her to bed, together with Maddie, then fucked her ass for a while, before putting her back in the closet, while he had sex with Maddie.

It was. . . well, it was great, honestly. That was the thing. Samantha knew that she liked sex okay, but she hadn't really thought of herself as someone who needed it more than once or twice a week. But maybe it was the conditioning, or maybe it was something else, but she wanted it way more than once a week, and now she was getting as much as she wanted.

Not orgasms, though--those were generally still at the level of once or twice a week, and always came from Maddie, but Samantha had gotten so used to the reward for getting someone else off that it was almost as good as an orgasm when they tripped that for her. The shocks from the cuffs were a constant, low-level thing, and then they were gone, and usually someone would smile at her, and there would be the smell of Maddie, and a little nap or something.

That was contentment, and a prize, and it didn't give her cramps or make her less interested in sex like an orgasm sometimes would. Not that orgasms were bad, exactly, but they weren't quite as good as other people's orgasms.

And, as she got used to that, everyone else kind of got used to her. It was just . . . when Lisa came back from work, she'd beat Samantha up a little, with a broad paddle, or her hands, or the riding crop, and when Samantha was whimpering and trying to get as far away as her bonds would let her, she'd either use her mouth or fuck her with a strap-on. And when Nathan was over, or C.J., it was her ass at night, and her mouth in the morning.

It was comfortable, and it was great, and honestly, a lot of things were better than they ever were. Maddie had upped Samantha's work-out schedule to two hours a day, once in the morning and once before dinner, so Samantha was in better shape than she'd ever been, and since all she was paying was a few hundred dollars a month rent and food, she was saving money for the first time since she'd moved to New York, in addition to paying back more than the minimum on her student loans.

Not that Maddie was going to let things stand as they were, not exactly. But generally, she'd only make changes when Samantha wasn't wearing the Sandy collar, so she was able to hide from that for like two months, until she had to take it off so that she could go to Lucy and Han's wedding.

And, yeah, as soon as she came out of the bedroom without a collar, Maddie cornered her.

"As you seem to have anticipated," she said, "I've more or less come up with a plan for you, if you want a plan. Let me know when you're ready to hear it. But I'm afraid it's going to mean a few changes for Sandy, once I'm ready to give you back that collar."

Maddie laughed at Samantha's expression. "Oh, come on," she said. "It'll be fun. Like everything else we've done up until this point. And you're going to learn a new trick or two, which is something you enjoy doing. Of course, it's going to be a little while before you get that collar back, so there'll be plenty of time to get used to what's coming next."

"Yeah, okay," said Samantha. Truth was, while everything was going okay, the idea of learning a new trick or two was sort of interesting. As was the idea of finding out what Maddie was going to do to her.

If Samantha let her, and that wasn't something that she was at all certain about. No. She was certain that she wasn't? Probably? Because things were fine, and there was all sorts of scary stuff that they'd talked about at that party. And maybe she'd be doing porn soon, and that was way more than she was ready to do, so there wasn't any point in even thinking about what came next.

Nothing was coming next. Well, Lucy and Han's wedding was coming next, and that was just wedding stuff to do--hideous dresses and since Lisa was coming off work at the hospital way late, they had to bring her dress with them, and her makeup, and then she had to get dressed at like, variety show contestant speed to make it to the ceremony not in scrubs. And then the food was all vegan and tasted like toothpaste and virtue, and Ronan got drunk and almost got into a fist-fight with three of Han's redneck cousins, and so on.

It was a hell of a night out, but not entirely worth losing the Sandy collar for two weeks.

It wasn't just Samantha who was peeved at that call by Maddie. "Oh, come on," said Lisa, when she found out that it was going to be that long before she could use Sandy again. "Look, just because you're the one who--"

"It's part of the process," said Maddie. "Look, if you want to ask her out, you can. Or Nathan can, or you both can at once. But that'll mean taking off the Samantha collar, and while she got that one back right away, if she takes it off, it's two weeks before it goes back on."

"Dammit," said Lisa. "Why."

"Like I said, punishments are determined by context. Beside, this way, I get to hear what's on her mind, and make any final adjustments to the overall plan that need to be made. And also I feel like a little more data as to how Samantha expresses herself sexually is necessary to learn more about her base state. Look; fuck your boyfriend a little harder for a couple of weeks, and she'll be back where she should be before you know it."

Lisa threw up her hands, and headed for her room. "Dude doesn't even want to try being fucked with a strap-on," she said. "It's not as though--"

"Speaking of which," said Maddie, "there's going to be something new for you when Sandy is back."

Lisa shut the door behind her, with just a hair less force than could reasonably be called slamming it.

"Well," said Maddie, turning back to Samantha, who was having similar thoughts. "Seems like Sandy is missed. Anyway. Speaking of the new toy."

She took something out of one of those manila envelopes with bubble wrap inside that she sometimes got her science stuff in. It was clearly a fake cock, and not a particularly large one. But it was wide, and silicone, and spikey.

"You aren't going to like this," said Maddie. "But Sandy is going to be wearing it most of the time."

It didn't look so bad, which meant there was something that Samantha was missing. "What does it do?" she asked.

Maddie grinned. "Here, hold on to it for a second."

Samantha took it, and then almost dropped it, when it shocked her.

"From now on," said Maddie, "the cuffs are just for maintenance discomfort. Your cunt is going to be for punishment, and your clit and asshole are going to be for rewards."

That was appalling, but it also kind of made Samantha turned on. Not necessarily what would've turned her on before she'd taken up Maddie on her offer, but given that she had, it definitely did the job.

"Are you entirely sure that the people who make stuff for you think that you're an ordinary researcher?"

Maddie giggled. "Could be not," she said. "But, well, I'm paying enough, and like I said, there are more people who are interested in this sort of thing than you might think."

Samantha cautiously reached out, and touched it again. This time, Maddie didn't shock her.

"There are other things," said Maddie. "For one thing, when you leave something like that in, long term. . . well, you dry out, and then you get sore--the bumps aren't going to break the skin, but you'll feel it. And it'll stretch you out a little. I mean, those are muscles, so it's not like it'll cause damage, but you'll get used to being more open. Point is, after a few months, it'll be at the point where you want to be empty, rather than want something to fill you up. And that's what it's all about, really."

"Oh," said Samantha, and more or less fled to the bathroom, to think about that.

The next two weeks went by agonizingly slowly. Work was a drag--Samantha did her job, and did it well, but she hated having to spend the day there, dealing with stuff that basically didn't matter, but which would freak people out if it wasn't dealt with. And she finished one of the fun books, and had to work on one of the death-slog sort of books. Some naturopath had vomited up a whole pile of homeopathy and positive thinking and not using cell phones, with all sorts of vaguely appropriative pictures, and Samantha was supposed to turn it into a book.

Unfortunately--or, from the publishing house's point of view, fortunately--he had like a popular podcast or something, and they were already getting preorders for his book full of pictures of dreamcatchers and Tibetans in traditional clothing, and how they proved that drinking coffee caused ADD. So there was no way that she could do a half-assed job on editing it without getting people upset.

And they'd decided to do more of the layout in-house, and since Samantha was working on the book, and since she knew how to use InDesign, she also had to do the layout of the stupid thing, and it was so impossibly stupid, and.

And also, like Maddie had said, she was interested in hearing what was going on in terms of Samantha's thoughts and fantasies, which meant that she spent most nights being edged with a vibrator, or hit with a riding crop, and pouring out a series of sexual fantasies for Maddie's library of recordings.

The fact that she was considering selling those videos on the internet did not make it easier to get the vibrator instead of the riding crop. It also meant that the first thing that came into her head was always something that she didn't even want to talk about to Maddie, let alone to perverted strangers on the internet. But the way that system worked was that she was always pouring out the first thing that came into her head. Also, if she took the Samantha collar off, it'd be two weeks before she got it back, and then another two weeks before she got the Sandy collar back, and Samantha really wanted to be locked in her cage and then taken out to get fucked in the ass.

That one showed up a lot in those recordings, but so did a bunch of much more fucked-up stuff. The problem was that she'd gotten so used to the structure, the words started coming, and she couldn't even stop them. It was almost like she was hypnotized into doing something she didn't want to do; like she was a passenger, as someone else was talking about having her clit burned off, or being fucked by dogs and horses, or . . . or all sorts of other stuff that Samantha really didn't want to do, but which sort of turned her on.

Finally, the two weeks were over, and Maddie gave her back the collar, which she grabbed like it was a life preserver.

Only it seemed that not only was everyone else aware of how long it'd been since they'd been allowed to use her, they all kind of blamed her for it. Which wasn't fair at all--Samantha had been Lucy's friend since school, and Han's for as long as he'd been with Lucy. And it was Maddie who hadn't given her the Sandy collar back.

But while C. J. used her mouth, he didn't finish in it, so she had to wait outside the bedroom door as he had sex with Maddie, unfulfilled, twitching from the shocks, and wanting. And then Zack had finished across her face, which also didn't count for turning on the refractory thing, and which left flaking smears of come there for the rest of the night.

And the dildo hurt. Not, like, impossibly; the straps holding it were leather, and felt fine, and it wasn't like it was ripping through her skin or anything. But everyone was shocking her a lot, and also it ached.

Lisa, at least, didn't blame her for having to wait that long. Yes, she did really lay into her with her flogger and paddle, but that was just frustration with how long it'd been, and it was also great--it hurt the right way, and by the time she was done, Samantha was wet enough that the plug wasn't that uncomfortable.

At which point, Lisa brought out the present that Maddie had got her.

It was a strap on--that is, it was a new dildo in Maddie's usual harness, and it looked quite a lot like the plug that Samantha was wearing.

"Exactly," said Lisa, who put it on. "Here; lick it."

Samanatha crawled over, and licked, hesitantly. Then jerked back, as it shocked her tongue.

"Keep trying," said Lisa, so Samantha tried again. And jerked back again, as it shocked her again. She had to keep trying, but it hurt. Three more times, and then the fourth time, she just couldn't. There was a shock inside her, as Lisa flicked the punishment switch, and she yelped at that, tried again. She got her tongue out, and almost too it, and . . . Samantha whimpered, managed to lick it one more time, then jerked back again.

"And it's not even that strong a shock!" said Lisa. "Okay, fine. Little bit wrong, but also amazing. Now, let's get your plug out so that you can fuck it, Sandy."

There was a brief moment when Lisa took Samantha's harness off, and eased the dildo out of her which just felt great.

"Sore?" asked Lisa.

Samantha nodded.

"Well, you'll get used to it. Eventually. Probably. Point is, you're going to be really sensitive right now, and this is going to hurt. Start fucking--and hey, maybe you'll be able to come from that."

If she did come from that, Maddie would take away her collar for two weeks, so she wasn't going to try. And as it turned out, there wasn't much risk. Those shocks weren't constant, but they were constant enough that it wasn't long before Samantha was trying to get away from it even as she pushed back into it, jumping and twisting and doing her best to be good.

Whatever it was, it seemed to work for Lisa; most of the time, she couldn't finish just from using the strap-on, but it didn't even take her very long that time, before she was pushing Samantha's hips back into her. Samantha twitched and moaned and cried a little, but then Lisa came, and it all stopped, even the shocks. The one that was usually in went back in, but even that didn't hurt quite as much--it seemed like Lisa's strap-on was a little bigger, so it was almost like a break from having something in her.

Lisa had been fucking her up on her bed, and once Samantha was properly set up, she sat down next to her, and started playing with her piercings--tugging them just enough to get a rise out of Samantha, and then letting them drop. "Gotta say," said Lisa. "That was a little dark. Fun, but a little dark."

Samantha couldn't argue with either part of that. She snuggled into Lisa's thigh, and kissed her.

"I know," said Lisa, pulling at Samantha's nipple ring. "It's just that work is hard and relationships are hard, and the way you squirm when you're being hurt is amazingly hot. I swear, if Nathan would be . . . but I don't even know how to talk about this stuff."

Samantha turned onto her back, so Lisa could play with the other rings too. And she did.

"Which is just part of why I'm going along with Maddie's mad social science," said Lisa. "Because I don't have to talk to you about anything--you just do what I tell you."

She did do that, and it was making Lisa happy, and that was great. And her cuffs weren't shocking her, which was pretty great, too.

"But, um. I mean, if you're not okay with . . . like, if you want to talk to me about things you'd rather not . . ." Lisa shook her head. "Just, you know. Stop me if I'm going too far?"

Samantha nodded. Then she looked at Lisa; really looked at Lisa, and nodded again, and it wasn't just content and obedient after having given someone an orgasm. She was still Samantha, under that collar, and Lisa was still her friend, and while she was sure it would mean losing the Sandy collar for a long time, she wasn't going to let Lisa do something that she didn't want to do.

Could be Lisa saw that, could be not. She seemed a little more relaxed after Samantha had agreed to warn her, anyway, and she spent the rest of Samantha's refractory break playing with those rings, and giving her little sips from her water bottle.

The next day, Samantha was so sore from that dildo in her cunt that she had to call in sick, and spend the day alternating between lying in her cage and working on copy-editing stuff. But the day after that, she was at least a little used to it, and was able to get in and finish up the layout for The Whole Patient Synergy, which was still a godawful book, but at least it was going to be laid out well.

And then came the weekend, and both Nathan and C. J. took the opportunity to fuck Samantha's cunt.

They hadn't been doing much of that, but it seemed that Lisa had endorsed it as being fun, and now that it hurt, Maddie had dropped her usual objections.

And it did hurt, even though neither of them had been given electrified cocks. She was sore, and neither of them were gentle--they didn't have to be gentle with her, and they knew it--and she would've much rather they'd used her ass or her mouth.

There was another new rule for the weekends--no baths or swimming or anything, no clothing at all between Friday night and Monday morning--which they both took advantage of by finishing on her, rather than in her.

In general, Nathan and C. J. did their best to ignore the fact that they were both fucking the same girl, but it seemed that the new rule had started something of a competition. So there was come in her hair and on her breasts and her back and her ass--they each used her three times in two days, and they both told her to let the stuff dry on her. Which was gross and humiliating and kind of hot. Besides, nobody was shy about hitting the punishment button, and that hurt--however many volts or or amps or watts or whatever were in that plug, it hurt a lot more than the shocks from the cuffs, which were only really noticeable when they were off.

It was, all in all, a pretty good weekend, and Samantha had to admit that the new system was working pretty well, at least in terms of getting her to do the things that she was supposed to do. And the fact was, work hadn't gotten much better, and just getting paid to do what she wanted to be doing seemed like a much better deal.

She'd been a little cautious in feeling out people at work if they'd want to use her as a copy-editor if she decided to do something else full-time, and they were more or less on board with that. She was the one who knew InDesign, and she'd been there for a while, but . . . well, publishing was kind of . . .

Fact was, if you paid people thirty to forty thousand a year for jobs that had to be in New York, and which were sort of culturally acceptable, you wound up with two major groups of people working in publishing--weirdoes and rich kids. So the weirdoes were all totally fine with her putting together some sort of collage of random jobs to pay the bills, and the rich kids didn't necessarily have much sense about what people who weren't rich kids had to do to pay the bills. Or what bills were, exactly.

Her boss was on the rich-kid end of the spectrum, and most of the rest of the staff were more on the weirdo end of the spectrum. Which is where she'd always fit, because she sure as hell wasn't a rich kid.

Only, once she'd made up her mind, it was a question of when she wanted to take off the Sandy collar, in order to talk to Maddie about doing porn. And there were a few questions that she needed answers to before she made that decision. And she needed a little time off, to think things through.

Not that things were bad--things were great! Lunch was always an interesting experience, and C.J. and Nathan had more or less moved in for weekends, and for about half the week. Possibly because of how things were going with C.J. and Maddie and Nathan and Lisa, possibly because of blow jobs on tap and a girl who was happy to spend a weekend covered in sperm.

And also Rania had borrowed her for a few photo sessions, including at least some of the lunches? That was a thing that she'd talked about with Maddie, who was fine with it, provided that she got permission from the guys, and that Samantha didn't know that she was there.

Which added another little something, when she got undressed and on her hands and knees at lunch time. Samantha now had to put her blindfold on before she opened the door to C.J.'s aunt's place, and she had no idea if there was a guy there waiting for her, or if Rania was there, watching her set up her lunch on a plate on the floor, taking pictures, or what.

No, lunch was way better than when it wasn't lunch time. But despite it being great, she really did need to think about whether this was all as good an idea as it seemed, and the more she did the stuff, the harder thinking got.

It was in the spring when she took the Sandy collar off. It had been two and a half months since she'd gotten it back, after Lucy and Han's wedding, and just walking around the apartment with clothing on was the strangest thing.

Maddie had gone out early, to deal with a client in Connecticut, and Lisa was on call that night--on call for radiologists just meant, 'has to work,' not, 'might have to work'--so she was alone. She called in sick--Samantha hadn't called in sick in like two years so that wasn't a problem, and there wasn't anything she had to do, so she left the collar on Maddie's bed, and went for a walk in Central Park.

That was one of the things that was great about Lisa and Maddie's place, which hadn't been particularly relevant to Samantha. It cost almost as much for a discounted half of a bedroom as it had cost for Samantha's whole apartment uptown, but the fact was, she could just walk three blocks crosstown and be in Central Park.

There were rich people riding horses on the bridle path, and there were like a thousand people in day-glo jogging gear getting into shape. Samantha headed for the reservoir, where the cherry trees were just starting to blossom, and walked around, and thought.

She could've gone to the Met. Basically, she hadn't been spending money on anything, so she could've gone somewhere fancy for lunch, and blown a couple of hundred dollars on shoes or whatever, but the fact was, she wasn't really interested in looking at art just then, and shoes were something that she had to wear for work, and it always felt nice to take them off.

She could leave. She had savings, she had friends, she had a job that paid. . . well, it paid for shit. But she was doing okay, in terms of money, and the student loans were almost gone, anyway, and if she didn't want more than a studio in Inwood, it'd be okay.

It wouldn't be kneeling with a blindfold on, knowing that someone was going to fuck her, and not knowing who. It wouldn't be having a constant ache in her pussy, and shocks whenever Maddie wanted to train her or Lisa wanted to hurt her.

It'd mean getting back on a ride she'd half gotten off of. And Samantha wasn't sure she wanted to get back on that. Or she could move back up the ladder, maybe? Switch back to the Samantha collar for a bit?

Or go further down, and maybe climb up later. It was more difficult to think after she'd been wearing that collar for a while, and there was the way that Maddie's training made it harder for her not to do what Maddie wanted.

It wasn't permanent. None of it was; she could always change her mind, and do something else instead.

What it came down to was that it was so much better than her life had been. Being okay when people were around, and feeling like she was about to cry when she was alone. Not really knowing what she wanted, and not knowing how to talk about what she knew she wanted. It was spring, but it was still a little cold. It had been okay when she was walking, but when she sat down on one of the benches near a cherry tree, and watched the joggers circle the reservoir, she started to get chilled.

It was very strange to sit there, feeling a little cold, feeling like clothing and shoes and all that weren't the way she should be. The thing was, even with like, Noah, there was more warmth in his touch than in a week in the office, and there was more need in his breathing than she'd felt in all the years before she'd taken Maddie up on her offer.

And Noah was just using her occasionally, like a kid who knew he could get away with something. Maddie . . . it was a weird sort of care, but even though Maddie was dating C.J., it seemed like Maddie was way more interested in Samantha than she was in C.J.

That couldn't be the reason. . . couldn't be enough of a reason. They weren't even having sex! But also, it was a thing, and, well, it wouldn't do any harm to just hear about her plan for the new collar.

Only when Maddie got back from Connecticut, she didn't want to talk about it.

"Take another day off," she said. "There's a thing I've got to do with you before we even start talking about where you might be going. I'll set it up for tomorrow."

And Lisa wasn't thrilled that Samantha had taken the collar off--she'd had a fight with Nathan, and needed to work some of that off, but couldn't. So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that Samantha went to sleep.

The next day, it seemed that Maddie was able to set up the thing that she wanted to, so they got into her car, and headed up to a big house in Westchester.

It was a really big house in Westchester--with stone facing and a turret and one of those heated driveways that looked super-clean despite the drifts of snow between the trees in front of the house.

Samantha stayed a step behind Maddie, when she went up to knock at the door, and while she wasn't hugely surprised to see Dr. Lebedev answer it.

"So," he said. "Is this a delivery?"

"I'm afraid not, Vadim," said Maddie, as she came inside, Samantha still trailing behind. It looked like a house in and ad--everything white and clean and orderly, and none of the sort of usual mess and compromises. Maddie looked like she fit, but even Samantha's coat looked out of place and shabby, hanging next to Vadim's wool overcoats and his wife's furs. "I'll try to get something for you as my next project, though," added Maddie. "I mean, assuming that this proceeds properly, and resolves according to the schedule that I have in mind, and nothing more pressing comes up in the interim. How would you feel about a woman with a middle eastern complexion?"

Vadim frowned, slightly, considering. "No," he said, finally. "No, not for me--we will attempt first with IVF, yes, but that is a process which often fails. It will be simplest if the girl is close enough to Natalia in appearance that her child could pass as Natalia's, should we choose to use her eggs, as well as her womb."

Maddie gave a thoughtful nod. Vadim showed them both to the living room, and then brought them small glass cups of tea. Maddie sipped hers.

"Well, perhaps I will save that one for me, if she's still available after the next two are completed."

"Oh?" asked Vadim, drinking his own tea. "You are at last going to indulge in ownership, rather than get your satisfaction from the process?"

"Possibly," said Maddie. "I've been talking it over with C.J., and . . . well, it might be nice to have a pair, for when we're married. I mean, yes, the process is what I'm most interested in, but there are practical benefits to having one or two around who are at the end of the process, and will serve without too much additional attention."

"Of course," said Vadim. "You scarcely have to convince me."

"I suppose not," said Maddie. "And speaking of which, while I'll keep an eye out for prospects who match your specifications, I did bring Samantha out here to see Al."

"Of course," said Vadim. "But you must not call him that, of course. He is to be called thing; he will not respond to anything else, and he has been given strong negative associations with all names which he has held."

Maddie gave a polite nod, and put her cup down on the table in front of them.

Samantha had been too nervous to drink; she left her cup next to Maddie's untouched, wincing at how loud it clinked.

And then Vadim led them down to the basement. It wasn't quite as finished as the rooms upstairs; there was a broad expanse of concrete floor, and there was a man chained to that floor by his neck.

He turned as they came down the stairs, watching them. Vadim took a garage door opener type thing from his pocket and clicked it, and the man's collar came loose from the floor. He scampered over to Vadim, put his face against Vadim's polished wingtips.

The guy was kind of good-looking, in an underfed way? Longish blonde hair, little bit of scruff, with a pattern of stripes on his back. And he was wearing sweatpants in addition to his collar.

"Looks like he's doing well," said Maddie, leaning over to study him a little more. He whimpered as Maddie got closer, but he didn't move away.

"Of course," said Vadim. "Three doctor visits a year, and the food has been approved by a nutritionist. His conditioning means that he will react negatively to close proximity to women, but he will be obedient, of course."

"Of course," said Maddie, brushing his hair away from his ear. He trembled, looking as though he was trying not to flee in terror. "Natalia doesn't make use of him?"

"No, no--of course she uses him. Mostly when I'm away, or if she is feeling uncharitable. It is . . . he cannot maintain an erection when a woman is close by, but he serves in other fashions. If anything, she has been more enthusiastic about this course of conditioning than I have."

"I really should talk to her soon," said Maddie. "And when I have a prospect for you . . . well, I'm sure that I'll find someone who meets her approval."

Samantha watched . . . Al, was it? Watched the guy squirming uncomfortably, as Maddie ran her hands over him in a familiar sort of way, like someone handling a dog that wasn't theirs, but which they knew well.

He had that collar on, but there weren't any other restraints. "Is that. . . does it shock him if he tries to leave?" she asked.

Vadim laughed. "Oh, no," he said. "We haven't had need for anything like that. Here, follow, thing."

The guy was still trembling, but he followed along behind Vadim, as they went back upstairs, into the mansion.

Samantha felt out of place there, amid the white and steel and really fancy rugs, but Maddie fit right in, and so did Al; his hair was a little long, but he was scrupulously clean, down to his fingernails, and he crawled naturally along the floor, almost as quickly as she could walk.

Vadim opened the front door, and the guy's eyes widened, and he shrank back behind Vadim.

"Go on," said Vadim. "You can go, if you like. There is a church just down the street--they will take you in, and give you clothing, and soup? You remember soup? It was a food that isn't your kibble?"

Al whined, shook his head.

"Stay," said Vadim, and Al kept still, but Samantha could see it was a struggle, that he wanted to turn and flee, and not just because it was a little cold outside.

"There," said Vadim. "Is your question answered?"

Samantha nodded, her mouth dry.

Vadim shut the door, and some of the tension left Al's shoulders. "Good boy!" said Vadim, and patted Al's head. "Go fetch a toy from your box."

Al crawled off, and Samantha watched him go. The soles of his feet looked unusual. Pinker than most people's feet, maybe?

"When is the last time he walked?" asked Samantha.

"Two years," said Vadim. "It has been three years since he used human speech."

"Oh," said Samantha.

He came back, carrying a whip in his mouth. It was one of those with a bunch of tails, but they were all narrow lengths of braided leather, and there were knots at the end of every tail. It looked pretty intense, anyway.

"Good!" said Vadim. "Go back downstairs, and wait for me. If you do well, you might be allowed to suck."

It was hard to say what made a form of crawling happy, but Samantha could see that Al looked happy, as he made his careful way through the door and down the stairs, the whip still in his mouth.

"You two seem happy," said Maddie.

"We are," said Vadim. "You must pick out someone who will be. . . encouraged by a certain amount of jealousy. You know my preferences, and those of my wife--I fear that whoever I acquire will be neglected a certain amount, when she is not in pain."

"Not a problem," said Maddie. "It's a deep-rooted thing with a lot of people; they're convinced that they are unworthy, and they enjoy the experience of having that truth demonstrated."

Vadim laughed. "You are the next thing to a Freudian!" he said. "It is simply a matter of finding someone who has already had a set of behaviors properly reinforced."

"If you say so," said Maddie. "But I am no more convinced by ideological purity than any other form of purity. And thank you for showing him; he is flourishing."

"Yes," said Vadim. "Yes, he is most suited for this life, and has achieved great things. Thank you for your visit."

He looked at Samantha, who gave a little bob. "It was very . . . informative?"

Vadim chuckled. "I suppose it must have been. Maddie is quite cautious when it comes to the ethics of these matters. I am sure you shall serve charmingly, whomever she has chosen."

"I . . . thank you," said Samantha, backing towards the door. A few more quick goodbyes--Vadim and Maddie exchanged kisses on each other's cheeks, and then they headed out.

"Was he, like, your thesis advisor?" asked Samantha, once they were back in the car.

Maddie seemed shocked. "No of course not," she said. "He was in a different school entirely. He did write me a letter of recommendation, but that was before I sold him Albert. Sean--his name was Sean at that point, though I don't suppose that matters much."

"Oh," said Samantha. "I thought--"

"It was Albert after a famous experiment," said Maddie. "But I guess that was too personalized for Vadim. It's a bit weird that he's still using human pronouns for his thing, though--don't give that more than another year or two."

"Oh," said Samantha, and sat quietly, hands on her lap.

"Which is sort of the point," said Maddie. "That's . . . I mean, my guess is that you've been thinking about asking about the next collar. And I figured it would be only fair to show you where that sort of thing can go."

"Yeah," said Samantha, watching Westchester go by, through the windows, all brown and white with a few buds here and there.

"So that's what you want to turn me into?" she asked, after a while.

"Not exactly that," said Maddie. "I mean, even ignoring the fact that he's still got a cock, that was what Vadim wanted, and then Vadim has added a few refinements. But something equally nice, I think."

"But you were, um, I mean, you're going to be making someone for yourself?"

Maddie laughed, and shook her head. "Yes, but that's going to have to be someone else; it's just a question of timing, really."

"Timing?" asked Samantha.

"Yeah, it's just . . . okay; this is the first time that C.J. got to see the sort of thing I could do--he wasn't entirely sold on the idea at first, but now he's pretty much on board. And also it's going to be a couple of more years before we're in a position where we can get married, so, I mean, it's going to have to be someone else. Someone after a girl for Vadim, probably."

"Right," said Samantha. "It's just . . . I mean, I could be around for a few years more; that's working out okay, and--"

Maddie looked away from the road, briefly, to flash an apologetic look at Samantha. "I know," she said. "And you'd be great; honestly. Everything I'd be looking for. Only I'd be going with a matched pair--a boy and a girl, and I'd want to start them at the same time, and work on training them to work together--at the moment, we're thinking that the girl would handle more of the domestic chores, and the boy would be more of the fuckpet, but that would really depend on how they interact with each other, and how . . . point is, I do appreciate it, and I have kind of been working on getting you to imprint on me, but it's going to have to be for someone else, if you go for another collar."

Samantha wasn't going to go for another collar. After having seen Al? Sean? Thing? Whatever that guy was. It was kind of hot, sure, but it was also way, way too much for her. But she did kind of want to know--she'd taken off her collar to find out, and it was going to be weeks before she'd get it back. It'd be stupid not to ask, and then get curious some other time, and have to go through that whole procedure again.

"Who?" she asked.

"Sorry," said Maddie. "Better that you don't know. Next collar would require you to be . . . well, to be more generally at people's service, and I don't want you thinking that one of them is more important than the rest. But I think that it's going to be fine--it's someone who you'd be right for."

Samantha's breathing was a little irregular, and the car felt a little cold, for whatever reason. Just a little cold for spring, probably.

She wanted to ask, but she didn't want to ask, and she kind of knew that she was going to ask. Also, they'd gotten off I-684 to take the Saw Mill River Parkway, and there was traffic, so it was going to be a while. And the question just sat there between them for a while, until finally Samantha asked.

"So, what are the rules for the new collar?" she asked.

"It's in the glove compartment," said Maddie.

Samantha checked. There was a collar there. And some other stuff, but it was the collar that she took out first. It was steel, and it had a built-in lock, and it had the number eight etched in, just over the lock.

"Once you put it on," said Maddie, "You'll be Eight. Eight doesn't talk, or read. There wouldn't be any discussion about adding people for sex--you'd service whoever wanted to be serviced. No more clothing, and you'd only leave the house in a travelling cage--it'd be set up so that people couldn't see, but you'd be pretty thoroughly restrained."

"Oh," said Samantha. That was . . . she wasn't going to put it on. Not ever. But there was a traitorous heat in her belly as Maddie said that, and her feet were squirming in her shoes.

"Check the other thing," said Maddie.

They were . . . Samantha had no idea what they were. Socks? They were leather and fabric and metal, with spikes inside.

"You'll be wearing those pretty much full time as well," said Maddie. "They're sized for you. The spikes are at the ball of the foot and the heel, so if you try to stand, it'll hurt you. And there's nothing for the sole, because people might want to hit you there. No standing, certainly no walking."

"Oh," repeated Samantha. "And before I can put it on, there's probably--"

"There's some stuff," said Maddie. "But that's not quite it. Didn't go through the upside of the new setup yet."

"Upside?"

"Well, for one thing, you're not going to have to do any chores or anything--that's more for a domestic servant type, and while your efforts there were appreciated, that's not the direction we're headed. You're also not going to have to pay for anything--anything you make would go straight to your bank account, and we'd probably chip in a few hundred a month, so you'd have a cushion if you decided you wanted out."

That sounded . . . well, in general, Samantha wasn't a huge fan of chores, but that still sounded a little ominous. And a little hot.

"No more pool, obviously--having you crawl down naked would rattle the co-op board a little more than I'd like--but you'd be spending a certain amount of time on exercises. I'd be the one bathing you every morning--you'd be restrained, but things would come out, and be cleaned, and so on. That'll be fun. Oh, and I'd probably be one of the people using you for sex at that point."

"Oh?" said Samantha, wincing at the eagerness in her voice. Maddie was. . . well, she was what she was, and she hadn't seemed that interested before, but--

"Yeah, I didn't want to earlier, because . . . well, it sort of mattered? And it would give you the wrong impression? But at this point, sex is what you're going to be for. No reason not to sit on a chair I've been building, you know?"

"I. Uh."

"Right. In terms of the transition, it'd be laser hair removal--pretty comprehensive laser hair removal. I mean, not your head, but that'd be shaved close, daily."

Samantha hadn't been considering putting that collar on in the first place, but she started back at that.

"I know," said Maddie. "And it was kind of a hard choice to make--you've got nice hair. But it'll push the abject sort of thing that I'm looking for, and also, it'll help make the distinction between you as a person and you as a sex appliance."

That hit Samantha, right in the gut. She had asked because she wanted fantasy fuel, and that was fantasy fuel right there. She had sort of been a sex appliance, when she put her blindfold on, and went into that apartment in the Village. This was that, only more so.

"And also, there are people who knew Samantha, and it really wouldn't be fair to Eight if people kept confusing them, you know? So it'd be a distinction. And if I wind up passing you on to someone who wants you to have hair, they'd be able to make the change back. Of course, if they wanted abject, they could go a little further with the hair removal. Which is worth mentioning--I mean, Vadim has modified Al a little bit past the initial plan, and that'd probably happen with--"

Maddie caught herself, flashed Samantha a smile. "Sorry," she said. "Almost slipped there. With whoever winds up getting you."

"I . . . right," said Samantha. "No hints?"

"Not even a hin. What else? Oh. Right. Before you'd get started, we'd add some weights to the existing piercings, to stretch them out a little, for wider-gauged rings? And there'd be a few more piercings. Labia, I think. Just labia majori--two rings on either side. That way, we could put things in your cunt or take them out, while keeping it closed for business most of the time."

"This seems like a lot," said Samantha. "Like, a lot, a lot."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "I know. And you're nowhere near ready for that. But it's, like, on the horizon now. When you're ready, you'll know, and then let me know, and we'll start getting you ready."

"Sure," said Samantha. If it was on the horizon, it could stay there. All her hair?

"It's mostly reversible," said Maddie. "In fact, we'd probably have to reverse some of it, depending on circumstances. I mean, giving someone a girl who doesn't bathe herself would be a bit like giving a non-housebroken puppy, you know? I mean, if that's what they're ready for, great, but if not, we'd have to make some changes."

"Mostly reversible?"

"Yeah, like the physical stuff--I mean, yes, once hair has been removed by lasers it mostly doesn't grow back. But other than that, piercings heal, the non-lasered hair would grow back, and once you take those socks off, you'd be able to stand again. No harm, no foul."

"No harm?" asked Samantha, a bit dubiously.

"Well, okay. A little harm. But not more so than any other relationship you changed your mind about, you know? If nothing else, you're going to be enjoying anal and giving great blow jobs for the rest of your life, and that's a plus in pretty much any dating pool."

"I guess," said Samantha. She put the sock things back in the glove compartment, but she considered the collar a little longer.

"It's a nice one, isn't it?" asked Maddie. "I mean, it would be super inappropriate for you to try it on--you're nothing like ready, and that's not even for Sandy to wear, let alone Samantha. But I worked pretty hard getting the measurements right, and it's surgical steel, so it'll last as long as it needs to."

It was, unquestionably, a nice collar. Maybe an inch and a half thick, heavy but not too heavy. It was a solid piece of hardware, and it looked nice, too. If it weren't for what it meant, Samantha would've wanted to try it on.

As it was, that was the last thing that she wanted. Only there was a sort of horrible fascination to it. Putting that collar on would mean giving up everything. It would mean being turned into the same sort of thing that guy--Maddie's high school boyfriend, maybe?--had been turned into. A sex toy, a thing that would respond to stimuli in a way that their owner found amusing.

That was easier than getting up and going to work every day, at least in a way.

"Well, one way or another," said Samantha, "it's been an educational trip."

"Good," said Maddie. "That was more or less my point. Figured that it would be best if you went in with your eyes open."

Or kept her eyes open and didn't go in; either way.


	10. Chapter 10

The truth was, the trip was sufficiently educational that Samantha didn't quit working right away. It was . . . well, the next book she had to work on was a wild food guide, and that was a lot of fun--there were photos and also illustrations, and since they'd dumped layout on her again, she was doing a sort of inset thing, where you'd have the photo with the illustration on it, and it worked pretty well. Also the author just straight up loved eating all sorts of weeds, and that was fun on a second-hand sort of basis--she could enjoy the guy's enthusiasm, even if she'd much rather have an MSG laded tub of delivery egg-drop soup than anything made out of lamb's quarters and chicory and cattail pollen.

But before she put the Sandy collar back on, she did okay Maddie putting videos up on the website. Yeah, it was a bit . . . well, if she tried to get a job teaching elementary school or something, having done porn could be a problem. But it wasn't as though Maddie was going to be putting up pictures of Samantha's face in Times Square. The internet was a fetid porn lagoon, and while there'd be guys who saw her face while she was being fucked and then saw her in real life, they would have seen literally tens of thousands of other women being fucked too.

And it was kind of a thrill, to think that when she was on the train wearing the Sandy collar, there could be people there who saw it, and who knew what it meant, and who knew that she was going to eat her lunch off of the floor in an apartment she'd barely even seen, and get fucked by some guy who she couldn't identify, while the thing in her cunt shocked her.

It wasn't like she was being Sandy full-time, either. Some of it was work, or social, or whatever, where she couldn't keep up her Sandy obligations and her other obligations at the same time. But there were times when she just came up for a breather. It was working out fine, and while the additional income from the porn wasn't a huge amount, it went from four hundred dollars a month up to a thousand a month pretty quickly, and that was money that she wasn't spending on anything.

Not that everyone was thrilled when she took the time off. Lisa and Nathan were . . . well, most of the time, they were doing pretty good together, but when things weren't so great, and Samantha also wasn't wearing the Sandy collar, Lisa went a little crazy. And also Rania got a little peeved, occasionally--it turned out that Maddie was paying her for some of her still photography, and while Samantha didn't need her porn money that badly, Rania kind of counted on it.

And while Lisa got a little irritable about it, when she saw Samantha without a collar, Rania was always polite. But she wasn't happy, and Samantha could see it.

"She's nice, though," said Maddie, after Rania left after one of those disappointed visits.

"Sure," said Samantha.

"It's kind of a pity that Vadim wants someone white--I think she'd have been a good fit."

Samantha swallowed. "Rania?"

"Sure," said Maddie. "Or at least, worth a try. Could be that she's interested in this stuff from a different perspective, or that she's interested, but wouldn't go for it. But it's worth a try, and she'd look just lovely if I could set her up the way Vadim wants a girl."

Vadim wanted a girl who couldn't stand or talk or see, and was going to use her to make a baby--probably his wife's baby, implanted in the girl through IVF.

Rania . . . well, she was pretty, prettier than Samantha, certainly, but . . .

"I know," said Maddie. "Anyone would look lovely like that."

"I . . . if you say so."

"I do," said Maddie. "It's sort of my thing."

"And I suppose that if it doesn't work out for Vadim, you were looking for someone for yourself."

"Yes," said Maddie. "And don't be jealous; it's not becoming. Anyway; point is, it's a pity that Rania isn't going to be getting that cash from your work this month, but she's awfully nice about it."

"If you don't want her to lose the money," said Samantha, "you could give me the collar back sooner."

"No," said Maddie. "It's a question of structure. I mean, I might have to make an exception to any of the rules, but this doesn't justify it."

"If you say so," said Samantha, and went out to see if there was anything she wanted to buy at the Strand.

There wasn't, and a few days later, Samantha got to learn what sort of thing justified an exception to Maddie's rules.

They were having dinner--Samantha had been feeling flush, having paid off the last of her student loans, so she'd treated Maddie to Chinese takeout--when Lisa came in, looking terrible.

"What is it?" asked Maddie.

"Nathan dumped me," said Lisa.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry--" started Samantha.

"He wasn't cheating on you, was he?" asked Maddie.

Lisa shook her head. "It's just time, I guess," she said. "It's like--it's cool you're a doctor, but I'm bored doing things by myself."

Maddie gave Lisa a hug, and there was a single sob from Lisa, which shook her shoulders.

"It's just that he was nice, and sort of enjoyed the same things, and it's not like there's going to be more time for me to do things, not with the fucking job market, and . . . and I'm getting older, and it's . . ."

"Speaking of doing things," said Maddie, "Your collars are in my dresser, top drawer on the left. I have a feeling that Lisa's going to be really mad after she's done being sad. If you could please put on the Sandy collar, so she'll have something to take that out on, when she gets to that point?"

Samantha hesitated, and then hurried off to the bedroom. It wasn't what she normally did when her friends were feeling terrible, but on the other hand, yeah, if that's what Lisa needed, no question that she could do it. She stripped, put her collar on, and then crawled out back to the living room.

Her Kung Pao chicken was on a plate on the floor, and Maddie and Lisa were talking, so she crawled over, and alternated between finishing up her dinner, and rubbing against Lisa's legs, in as comforting a fashion as she could manage.

And Maddie was right--it didn't take too long before Lisa was crying outright about the collapse of that relationship, and it didn't take too long after that before she got mad about Nathan.

It was the sort of thing that had taken Samantha weeks to go through, after her break-ups, but it had only been like two hours before everything that had ever bugged Lisa about Nathan started pouring out.

Well, that, and a bunch of stuff that bugged Lisa about Lisa. She was mad, and while the breakup had focused it, it wasn't the only thing that she was mad about.

Maddie was pretty good at listening, asking the right sort of questions, not talking too much, and not being too quiet, either. And as she listened, she got Samantha up onto the coffee table, and tied her into place, set her up.

It'd been a couple of weeks since Samantha had been wearing the Sandy collar, and since she had put on her collar by herself, she hadn't gotten the cuffs or the belt with that shock dildo on it. Maddie had put the cuffs on while she was tying Samantha up, but she hadn't gotten the collar out.

So it was Lisa's dildo that was the first thing that pushed into her, and then there was a jolt inside of her, as the shocks started.

It had been almost two weeks since she'd been wearing the Sandy collar, and she'd sort of gotten used to not being shocked there. The truth was, even with the Sandy collar, most of the time, Lisa didn't bother getting that thing out, and would just use her regular strap-on in Samantha's butt.

So she wasn't used to it, and it hurt, and she made a little whimper, which would sometimes . . . well, it wouldn't make Lisa stop, or even slow down much, but it would sort of move her in the direction of enjoying herself, or something?

It didn't, that time. She just pushed in, and out, and it had been two weeks since she had the Sandy collar on, so Samantha wasn't even that wet. Just being fucked with that strap-on hurt, and the shocks hurt more.

Maddie knelt down in front of the table, and studied Samantha's face.

"Good," she said. "Be useful." Then she looked up at Lisa. "There's intensity controls as well, if you need them?"

Intensity controls?

"I kept it on five, but--" She passed Lisa something, and then, suddenly, the next shock hurt a lot more. Samantha whimpered again.

"Figured that you were in that sort of mood," said Maddie. "Next time I'll make sure it goes up to eleven."

There was the usual buzz of the shocks from the cuffs, and there was the way her knees ground into the table with Lisa's every thrust, and it all hurt. And it was also . . . the thing about the way Lisa usually used her, it was, yeah, she wanted to hurt her. But she was also turned on, and having fun. This time, Lisa was just hurting her; every thrust of her hips was there to cause Samantha pain.

Finally, she paused out, and Samantha knelt there, breathing hard, that shock dildo buried deep in her cunt. And she felt Lisa's tears dripping down on her ass.

"That's it," said Maddie. "Let it out. If you want privacy--"

"No," said Lisa. "Stay here; make sure it's . . ."

"Sure," said Maddie. "It'll be fine; I'll make sure that everything is fine."

Lisa pulled out, and Samantha gasped in relief. Until she started with the cane. That hurt. Every single stroke hurt worse than the worst stroke that Samantha had gotten in the past.

It was . . . she couldn't move, and she couldn't leave, and if Lisa kept that up, she was going to have to tap out, to let them know that she couldn't take any more. She was crying, of course--it hurt so much--and so was Lisa.

Maddie was still there, and she patted Samantha's cheek. "That's a girl," she said. "Lisa needs this. You can take it."

She couldn't. She would try, but she couldn't.

"Nod if you can take it," said Maddie, and Samantha nodded--if nothing else, she'd spent a lot of time agreeing to what Maddie told her. The cane hit her again, and she lurched forward, as far as she could go, eyes shut, trying to make it all go away. If Lisa didn't stop, she'd . . .

Lisa did stop. And then there was a drop of lube on Samantha's ass, and Lisa pushed in. With that shock dildo.

Samantha's eyes opened wide. She had to. . . Maddie had to stop that. Samantha hadn't been hurt like that, not there, and--

Maddie brushed some hair out of Samantha's face. "There you go," she said. "Just what Lisa needs."

That first shock hurt, and the second shock hurt; it hurt inside, and she couldn't get away from it, and there wasn't enough lube, and Samantha was going to have to tell them to stop. Everyone was going to be disappointed in her, but she couldn't take it.

Samantha opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't. She couldn't. She yowled in pain, which was what they wanted, and she was crying, crying hard. Lisa was still thrusting, not paying attention, but Maddie was there, watching Samantha's face, and through her tears, Samantha could see Maddie's delight.

Maybe a little more? No. She couldn't. Samantha opened her mouth again, and again, she couldn't say anything. It was just . . . it was just that she'd spent so long doing what they wanted her to do when she wore the Sandy collar that she had to keep doing what they wanted her to do.

"Go ahead," said Maddie. "Nod again; show Lisa that you can take it."

If Maddie had phrased that a little differently, Samantha wouldn't have nodded--if she'd just asked it as a question again, that would've been enough.

But this time, Maddie told her to nod, so she nodded. And Lisa pulled out, and started whipping her again.

She couldn't. She had to. She couldn't.

There was something breaking inside of her. Lisa came around in front of Samantha. Maybe Maddie hadn't seen it, but Lisa would . . .

Lisa's face looked like Samantha felt. Closed up, and wounded, and not seeing anything at all. And mad. Really, really mad.

Maddie replaced the condom on Lisa's strap on, and then Lisa started fucking Samantha's throat.

It hurt, it hurt so much, and the shocks made Samantha's throat seize up. She hadn't been gagging with that, because of all the practice, but she was gagging hard at that. She had to stop it; she would. Just one word, just once, when Lisa pulled out, she could stop it, and maybe Maddie would be disappointed, but Lisa would be apologetic and nice, and it would be. . .

Samantha almost blacked out, or maybe she did black out, when that dildo hit the back of her throat and held there. But when it was out, and she was breathing again, she didn't stop it. She nodded when Maddie told her to nod, not even entirely aware of what was happening.

And then it was her cunt again. Her ass and thighs had been hit so hard that it even hurt when Lisa touched her; she was sore and aching, and it kept hurting. And that shock dildo was ripping her apart.

She couldn't speak. That was the rule of the Sandy collar--she wasn't allowed to speak, and she wanted to talk, to tell them that it was too much, that they had to stop.

She couldn't speak, but she could howl, and she did, when Lisa pushed her. There was a light in Maddie's eye, as she watched her, and she made her nod and stick her tongue out, and show that she was doing okay. She did, each time. It hurt worse than anything that had ever happened to her, and she kept asking for more.

Samantha was being pulled in two directions at once. There was everything that Maddie had done to her, that trained her to take what was given her. And then there was simple animal pain; it hurt, and it wasn't fun, and she wanted it to stop.

Maybe Maddie could see it--she could see it, Samantha was sure of it. But Lisa couldn't. She was lost in her own pain, and . . . well, she wasn't exactly enjoying Samantha's pain the way she usually did. But she was using it; she was pushing it, harder than she ever did.

It was just pain, and Samantha took it, and she could feel the strain inside, as those two things pulled in opposite direction, pulling her apart. Every thrust, the words came right up to her lips, and every time, they couldn't get past her teeth.

Then, just once, Lisa paused. She'd stopped crying a while ago, probably--Samantha had lost track of everything except how much she hurt.

"This is--" she said.

"It's fine," said Maddie.

"Is it?" said Lisa. "Nod if this is okay, Sandy."

She didn't want to. She could just not; that would be the simplest thing, and it would--

She was nodding.

Then Lisa started again, the shocks from that dildo deep in Samantha's bruised and aching cunt. She couldn't get away, and it wasn't going to stop, and . . . and that thing that had been stretched the breaking inside of her snapped and broke.

She had been crying, and then she burst into tears, like when it was raining, and there was a sudden gust of heavy rain. She had broken--she was being broken, and it didn't change and it didn't stop.

"Good," said Maddie. "Perfect. You're doing very well."

Sandy looked up at Maddie, her eyes full of tears. It did hurt, but she was doing well.

It went on. It went on for hours, or minutes, or days or weeks--it didn't matter. It hurt, but she was being useful.

Finally, Lisa was done. She pulled out, and shook her head, and then sort of staggered to her room.

"That's a girl, Sandy," said Maddie. "You were very useful. Now I think that Lisa might be feeling a little bad, but she's also going to be a bit . . . well--come along."

Lisa was lying on her bed, the strap-on still on. "You okay?" asked Maddie.

"I dunno," said Lisa. "Nathan, and . . . what was that?"

"What you've been wanting for a bit," said Maddie. "It's what you needed."

"Maddie," said Lisa, and she sounded tired, and wrung out, and sort of empty. "It wasn't right."

"It was okay," said Maddie. "Sandy took it fine; I mean, you put her through her paces, but she's doing okay, and now she's a little panicked that you're mad at her."

"I'm not mad at her," said Lisa. "I'm mad at . . . well, I'm mad, in general. Nathan, and work, and . . . shit, Maddie. It was supposed to get easier, when I grew up, but it keeps getting fucking harder, every fucking day."

Maddie patted Sandy's butt, which made her wince. "Go up," she said. "Show Lisa that you're there for her, if she's mad."

Sandy looked up at Maddie, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do, but wanting to show Lisa that she was there for her.

Maddie chuckled. "Sorry," she said. "Go lick."

Sandy went up on the bed, and pushed in, next to the strap-on, trying to reach Lisa's pussy with her tongue.

Maddie laughed, and unbuckled the toy, and Sandy wriggled, not quite able to control herself, and then kissed Lisa, right on her clit.

Lisa was a little sore, actually--Sandy could read that in the way that she flinched from Sandy's touch. She'd fucked her pretty hard, and that . . . it meant soft touches with her tongue and lips, so that it would feel good, and it wouldn't hurt, and Lisa would know that Sandy would do what she wanted, and that she didn't have to be angry with her.

Maddie was still there, sitting next to Lisa, sort of brushing her hair with her fingers, talking softly. Sandy couldn't really hear what they were talking about, and it really didn't matter. While Lisa wasn't responding that much, she also wasn't pushing Sandy away, and she was good--she was good at licking Lisa out, and she was good at being there for sex.

Sooner or later, with a combination of Maddie talking and Sandy licking, Lisa's hips started to move, and she was thrusting up to meet Sandy--maybe she was a little sore, but it didn't matter anymore, and it was her pussy crushing up into Sandy's face.

It didn't hurt the way what had happened before hurt, but it was almost as violent; when Lisa finally came, it was like she was being ripped apart--she'd never come that hard, not any time Samantha had licked her. Sandy was a little afraid that it was too much, that Lisa wouldn't be able to start breathing again, that she wouldn't be able to stop moving her hips, even though that orgasm looked like it was hurting her. But she had been told to lick, so she did, and then finally Lisa breathed again, collapsing down, like her whole skeleton had been broken apart.

"Very nice," said Maddie, tugging on Sandy's collar. "Just what you both needed, I think."

She went to her room, and Sandy crawled along behind, still aching everywhere, her knees hurting every time she put them down.

She'd been feeling a little floaty ever since Lisa had come, just like usual. There was something tender in Maddie's look, when she tied her up in her cage. "It was a little tricky, making sure the timing for that was right," she said. "But I think that's done the trick for both of you. Pity about having to go no-contact with Nathan now, but, well. Sometimes, you have to make opportunities."

Sandy was too tired to even think about that. Once Maddie had finished tying her in place in her cage, Sandy fell asleep right away.

There were a couple of times that she woke up in the night; once, her face was wet with tears, and Sandy wasn't sure why. Probably a dream she had; it didn't matter, anyway.

The next morning, Lisa took the time to make sure that none of the cuts or bruises that Sandy had gotten were too bad, and she made sure they weren't going to be infected. That . . . well, it hurt a little, and her butt and her thighs were going to be sensitive for like a month, and there'd be a ton of bruises, but that didn't stop Sandy's hips from wriggling whenever Lisa touched her.

"Are you . . ." Lisa paused shook her head. "I'm sorry about that, Samantha," she said.

Sandy tensed. She didn't want to be bad, but she also didn't like being called that, not when she was wearing her collar and everything.

She'd have to be Samantha; at least, she'd have to pretend to be Samantha for a little bit, from time to time. She could work as Sandy--Maddie said that was okay, but she didn't really like it, so Sandy'd probably stop sooner or later. But she didn't want to have to make Samantha choices, and it wasn't fair that--

"There you go," said Lisa, after putting a bandage on the last of Sandy's cuts. "Should be fine. And . . . thanks, anyway. Not a hundred percent sure that Maddie's right and this was a great idea, but I do feel a bit better."

Sandy turned around, hoping for a little more attention, but Lisa just ruffled her hair, then pushed the shock plug into Sandy's cunt, closed up the buckle, and then headed out for a long day of work.

Maddie gave her a more knowing sort of smile. "See?" she said. "It's not so bad." Then she hesitated, and Sandy gave her the most hopeful look that she had.

"I take it that you're no longer quite so dead-set against being turned into Eight," said Maddie.

Sandy shook her head.

"And would you like to start some of the new training?"

An enthusiastic nod.

"Good!" said Maddie, and she knelt next to Sandy, and hugged her without letting her get up, sort of squeezing around her shoulders, her face next to Sandy's, like someone hugging a dog. "You're doing real good," she said. "I think we'll start with the weights, for the piercings--I don't want them huge, but enough for wider rings, definitely. And, well, you do need the best sort of prize I can give you."

She stood up, and unzipped her jeans. Sandy wasn't sure that she could even believe it, but then Maddie sat down, and gestured her over.

There were the shocks from the cuffs, and there was the occasional zap from the thing in her cunt, when Maddie wanted her to slow down. But it was . . . Maddie tasted so good, and Sandy was being useful, and she finally had a chance to show how much she enjoyed what Maddie had done to her.

Well, enjoyed wasn't the right word, exactly. How much she'd needed it, and how well she'd done at turning into what Maddie wanted her to be. That was the thing. Samantha had wanted to be good. She had wanted someone who wanted things from her, difficult things, and she'd wanted to do those things, even though it hurt. That's what turned her on, and that's what Maddie had asked for, and that's what Samantha . . . well, as Samantha, she hadn't been able to do it. But Maddie and Lisa had pushed her past that, and now she could. She'd be Sandy. She'd be the best Sandy.

Maddie wasn't that enthusiastic, exactly. She had her phone out, and was talking to someone as Sandy licked, teasing at her clit, stroking up the length of her pussy with her tongue, pushing in at Maddie's clit, then taking her shock from the thing in her cunt, and then back to licking and teasing.

"Smile for C.J.," said Maddie, holding the phone out to the side. Sandy did her best to smile with her eyes, her mouth still busy on Maddie.

"Nice," she said. "He's been looking forward to that for a while. Bit of a pain, you know, but boys will be boys. And now he'll have no reason to object when I get a nice fuckboy for him, and can watch him take a man's face and ass, and . . ." Maddie trailed off, leaning back, and this time, Sandy didn't get shocked when she pushed in a little harder at Maddie's clit.

It wasn't quite as prominent as Lisa's, and even when she was into it, Maddie wasn't as into it as Lisa could be; there was tension in her thighs, and that little bit of a quiver underneath Sandy's mouth, but it wasn't the same as when Lisa was on the verge, and was totally on the verge, with everything in her. "Yeah," said Maddie, somewhere off in the distance. "It does improve phonesex a bit."

Then she came, not as intensely as Lisa did, but she came, and then pushed Sandy away, back down to her knees.

"Well," she said. "I've got work to do, but since you've been good, I'll leave the vibrator on in the hall closet. You can grind on it when you need a break from work. But don't come, or that collar comes off."

That collar was who she was.

"Oh, and I promised weights; come on, follow."

Sandy was pretty good at crawling. Not as good as Vadim's thing was, but she was getting there. The weights weren't huge--just a few ounces, clipped onto the rings in Sandy's nipples and nose.

"If you have to go to work, you can take the one on the nose ring off," she said. "Otherwise, see you tonight."

Work. Right. There was like an hour before she'd have to go, if she was going, so as Maddie headed out, Sandy crawled into the cage in the closet, and let the vibrator touch against her. It came on at contact--another one of Maddie's custom-made toys--and Sandy all but purred at the sensation. It was dark in the closet, and there was a thing that turned off the cuffs when she was in one of her cages, and it was . . . she could let go, and there was nothing but the way she felt, and walking the edge between the vibrator feeling as good as it possibly could, and going over and coming and ruining everything.

There was a water bottle in the cage, so she didn't really have to leave until Maddie came back, or someone else, or something. But there was work.

Sandy left her cage later than she meant, and called in. "It's just . . . I'm not really feeling like myself today?" she said. "I'll do what I can at home?"

It was okay--that sort of thing usually was, but there was a little hesitation there. Truth was, Samantha hadn't been doing her best work lately, and Sandy was either going to have to improve, or quit before she got fired.

It was going to be quitting before she got fired. That'd be fine, and she'd be able to get a ton of copyediting done during the day, anyway, and she'd be able to do it naked, with those weights hanging loose. Those ached, a little, but it was good. It was great.

And she did get some copy-editing done. Almost as much as she'd have done on an ordinary day at the office, almost. Would've been more if she'd been able to stay focussed, but there was that vibrator in the cage in the closet. It was just so much easier to go and ride it, and let everything else melt into the background.

When she got back from work, Maddie was happy to see her, and then later, Lisa was happier to see her when she came back home. It seemed that the bruises were showing up on Sandy's ass, so Lisa was almost gentle when she used her, but that dildo still hurt.

It wasn't that much easier being Sandy. She'd sort of thought it would be, but it still hurt, and she still whimpered and tried to get away with it. She wasn't any better at staying still, or taking pain, just because her perspective was a little different.

What she was better at was in knowing that her pain didn't matter. It hurt, and she wanted it to stop, but she wasn't going to stop Lisa from doing whatever she wanted. And if letting Lisa know how much she was hurting would make her stop, Sandy wasn't going to do that. And she didn't! Lisa managed to finish just with the strap-on, which wasn't something she was able to do all the time, and then Sandy was able to take a little break in the cage, until C.J. came over.

The weights hadn't been too bad, but that was at first. Sandy had them on all day, and they were starting to leave her sore. Particularly when Lisa had been using that strap-on, with Sandy on her hands and knees--they'd been pulling at her with every thrust of Lisa's hips. When Lisa was done, Maddie ran her finger across Sandy's nipples, and nodded at her wince, and took the weights off. "It's a bit too much for the start, I think. And I want this to be an extended process. So, lighter weights tomorrow."

Then she gave her a slap on the ass, and got back to work on her computer. In the cage, without the weights, and without the shocks from the cuffs--it was just bliss.

Normally, C. J. wouldn't bother using her for a while, not unless Maddie was on her period or something. But this time, he dragged her out almost as soon as he came in, and brought her into the bedroom.

Which Maddie thought was hilarious.

"Oh, come on," he said, as she doubled up laughing. "I've been real patient about this, but--"

"But you've been looking forward to hot girl-on-girl action, and watching Lisa put Sandy through her paces wasn't doing it for you."

"What I want is to fuck your ass while she licks you out," he said.

"And you're not getting that," said Maddie. "Thought I was pretty clear about that. If you like putting your cock in a lady's bottom, I have gone through a lot of trouble and effort to make sure that you have a lady's bottom available whenever you'd like."

"That's why you've been doing that."

"No, but you haven't objected until now. It's not fun, and it's not comfortable, and Sandy loves it. And to forestall your next suggestion, no, I'm not going to be licking her out, ugh."

C.J. frowned at Maddie, who smiled. "Still, we can probably come up with something. Sandy, go wait in the corner, facing the wall." There was a little shock in her pussy, to speed her along, and then she knelt there, and waited. Maddie was talking to C.J. A little cajoling, a suggestion, maybe? And then C.J. left to take a shower.

"New job for you," said Maddie, when he was gone. "First we're going to play a little, and then you're going to be licking his asshole while we fuck."

Sandy crouched a little lower in her corner. They'd been using her in a lot of ways. A lot of ways. But that wasn't something that they'd done yet.

"Be good," said Maddie, and Sandy gave a little nod at her corner.

"Besides, I have a feeling that you're going to be enjoying the stuff that comes before then."

Another nod, still a little worried about what was coming.

It didn't take C.J. too long to shower, and he came back with a towel wrapped around his waist, and nothing else. "Come here, Sandy," said Maddie. "That's right, up on the bed."

And then Maddie kissed her. She was wearing her pyjamas, and the silk felt strange and good against Sandy's skin as she pressed up against her. And her lips . . . it had been ages since she'd kissed anyone on the lips. There hadn't been anyone for years before she'd started with Maddie, and none of them had done that. It was. . . Sandy melted into the kiss, and then Maddie's hands were on her breasts, and on her hips, and when Maddie pulled away, Sandy was gasping.

Maddie looked over at C.J., gave him a wink as she slipped out of her pyjama top. She had really nice breasts; not that big, but perfectly shaped, with pale brown nipples.

"Go ahead," she said, pulling Sandy's head in close, to lick, and to suck. Maddie threw her head back as Sandy started, and at the back of her mind she knew that there was something calculated in that gesture. Sandy thrust that thought away. She was doing what she was supposed to do, and Maddie was happy, and . . . and then Maddie pushed her back, and started licking at Sandy's breasts, and there was nothing calculated in the way Sandy responded to that. It felt so good. Almost too good, like she'd been on the vibrator too long, and she was about to lose it, and everyone was going to be disappointed. But there wasn't an orgasm from that; she was just a puddle, when Maddie pushed her back on the bed, kissing at the middle of Sandy's chest, going lower, to her stomach.

Maddie had said that she wasn't going to lick Sandy out, but . . . well, she was kissing, and it was getting lower, and if she did, it would've. . .

C.J. groaned, and Maddie looked up at him. "Go ahead," she said.

He pulled Maddie off of Sandy, flipped her onto her back; he kissed her neck, hard, and then he pushed into her, his cock already really stiff--normally, he'd have to use Sandy's mouth for like five minutes before he was that turned on.

There wasn't anything feigned in the way Maddie responded to that--Sandy could see Maddie's toes curling, the vein throbbing in her neck. They were both lost in each other, and maybe if Sandy didn't do anything, they wouldn't even notice.

But she'd been told what to do. Sandy crawled over, put her hands on C.J.'s hips, and dipped in.

It was. . . he was moving, and at first, she couldn't quite figure out how to do it, so that she'd actually get her tongue in there. But he sort of opened up each time he was pulling back, and she was able to lick. It mostly tasted like skin and soap, but there was a little bit of sourness there that made her gag. She kept at it, though, even pushing her tongue a little bit into him.

It seemed to work; it wasn't at all long before he stiffened and groaned, and Maddie groaned under him; Sandy could almost feel the pulse of his semen into her, through his body.

Another, shakier groan, as he rolled off of Maddie.

"Excitable?" said Maddie.

"Sorry," said C.J. "It was just--"

"I know," said Maddie. "I know. It's okay. And go ahead, Sandy. You can clean me up, and then finish the job."

Sandy licked eagerly; there was a strange mingling of the flavors of C.J. and Maddie, and while there might have been a little faking when Maddie writhed and shouted, it was nice to hear anyway. And Maddie did come; Sandy could feel that--there wasn't any faking in the pulsing of Maddie's pussy, or the quivering of her thighs. It was great, and then there was the way having given someone an orgasm left Sandy relaxed and open, and ready to sleep. It had been . . . well, it had been a day, one way or another. Maddie packed Sandy up in her cage, and then she was asleep, just like that.

She was able to get into work the next day, and the next month after that--the thing about going to work was that she had to walk and talk and be a person, which wasn't ideal, but there was also the lunch break, and that was kind of magical. C.J. was staying over more often than not, but the days dragged at home, when it was just her.

Maddie had gotten an elliptical machine, and set it up with a sort of bar instead of pedals, so that Sandy could use it while balancing on her soles. It hurt after a while, but she could use it for a half hour at a time; then it was back to the hall closet, and the vibrator. She'd gotten really good at edging; she could hold it for an hour at a time, just occasional touches of the vibrator, always no more than five seconds from having a full orgasm.

Those were in a little bit shorter supply, ever since she'd agreed to take the steps needed to get the next collar. Always after a heavy beating, usually one of Lisa's, and then she was blindfolded and tied up, with a t-shirt or something where she could smell it. Blindfolded first, so that she couldn't see whose shirts they were. Maddie had picked out someone for her, and she was being trained to respond to her future owner's scent.

Sandy didn't know if that worked, but it was a powerful thought; it almost made up for the sort of disappointment that she would sometimes feel, when Maddie let her come. That was weird. She didn't even know if it was something that Maddie intended--it probably was, it was always something that Maddie intended. But the thing was, she'd been trained--she'd been training herself--to edge properly, to stay stimulated but not to finish. So, yeah, orgasms felt good, and it was part of her training, and all that, but there was always that feeling like she'd done something wrong, a sort of vertigo, like she'd fallen, like she'd made a mistake and everyone was going to be upset.

If she came without permission, everyone really was going to be upset. That was absolutely true. Lisa was dealing with the break-up with Nathan by spending her free time doing work type stuff, which meant that she wasn't doing much dating, which meant that she was fucking Sandy just about every night. And fucking her hard--that session, right after the break-up, had meant a lot to Sandy. But it seemed like it had meant a lot to Lisa too; she would sort of lose herself in what she was doing.

That would hurt. Sometimes, that would hurt almost as much as that first time. Lisa liked making Sandy suck on that shock dildo, and while she always made sure not to do permanent damage, she knew exactly where to hit, to turn Sandy into a weepy, sniveling mess. She'd sometimes ask if Sandy needed her to stop, or slow down, or whatever, but since the answer was never yes, eventually she stopped asking.

Which made things easier, really. It hurt a lot, and Sandy didn't like it while it was happening, but the hardest part was having to keep telling Lisa to keep hurting her. Of course, at the end, when Lisa came, that felt great. Better than having an orgasm herself, really, because there wasn't that sense of failure; just the opposite. The marks and the bruises and the aches and all that--those were indications that she'd done a good job, and made Lisa happy.

When Lisa wasn't using her, C.J. was, and that was nice too, because he enjoyed watching her making out with Maddie. And Maddie was willing to play along, which was a lot easier to do than what she was doing with Lisa. It was less genuine, and she wasn't being quite as useful. Neither C.J. or Maddie needed her the way that Lisa did, and Sandy knew that. But all the same, it was a lot easier to get turned on by kissing than by being hit by a belt while her cunt was being shocked.

Although, after a while, that belt did start looking better; it was a bit like having her nipples pinched, or her breasts slapped, which was something that would bring her up to the edge as quickly as a vibrator. But not the electric stuff, or things like Ben-Gay on her clit, which burned like hell. That was just something to endure, to make Lisa happy. And also, sometimes, something to think about when Maddie was kissing her.

Even Noah and Zack would've gotten pretty pissy if Maddie had to punish Sandy by taking her collar away. Noah would angle for invitations to dinner whenever he could, and Sandy was pretty sure that Zack was showing up every day at lunch, even though he worked out in Brooklyn, so it would've been like his whole lunch hour.

In the end, though, she had to pretend to be Samantha for a little bit, whether or not it was going to upset everyone. The time had come to quit work before she got fired, and while they'd still want to use her as a copyeditor. And to go to the laser hair place that Maddie wanted her to use, and to start work on a few of the other things that she needed to do, before she'd be ready for the next collar.

It was going to take a while before they finished with the laser hair thing--getting the whole body done was going to mean at least an hour each session, and it was going to take dozens of sessions before they were finished.

And that would mean having to get dressed and go out into the street and talk to people and all that. So it wasn't like quitting meant not having to do that again right away. But it was a step in the right direction.

It was a little weird, going into work after letting them know that she was going to leave. Meant a little more work for everyone, until they found someone who could do what she'd been doing, and Sandy did feel a little bad about letting them down. But more, she felt awkward trying to explain what was going on with her, and reacting appropriately when they talked about how much they were going to miss her and so on.

Some of them probably were going to miss her, and some of them were happy to see her go. Sandy had never figured out who was part of which group, or what they meant--there were some office friends who she was going to miss, and there were definitely people who were going to get in touch with her for freelance copy editing, because she worked fast and didn't make mistakes. But it was. . . it was the freest that she'd ever felt, walking away after that last day.

The thing was, ever since she'd started kindergarten, life had been one way--she would wake up, and do something that she didn't particularly want to do, and hope that she'd make it until nighttime without getting into too much trouble for doing something wrong. She went to college because everyone went to college, and she went into publishing because she liked books, but it wasn't as though publishing was a world where she just got to sit and read books that she liked, and maybe talk about them.

To be fair, it wasn't exactly as though she enjoyed what Lisa did to her. And it certainly wasn't as though she was choosing what to do once she left work; Maddie had that planned out pretty well. But it was something that she was able to disappear into, in a way that she wasn't when it came to copyediting bullshit from snake-oil salesmen.

And it was also a month before she was allowed to put on the Sandy collar again, which gave her a certain amount of free time. Part of which she spent in getting into a huge fight with her mom.

Her mom was furious that Sandy had quit, and even more furious that every time she called her up to talk about it, Sandy hung up on her. She finally showed up in person to yell at her, at which point Sandy kept the door locked and called the cops. That was it; her mom yelled at the cops for a bit, then left. It was that, or get arrested, and Sandy's mom wasn't going to put up with that. In general, she really didn't like that there were people who she didn't have the right to boss around, but who had the right to boss her around. But she wasn't going to let Sandy get away with having done that to her; it was going to be months of the silent treatment, and then demands for an absolutely comprehensive apology before she'd even talk to her again.

Normally, that sort of thing wasn't even Sandy's fault, and she'd spend hours trying to call her mom, and getting nothing but voicemail. This time, it kind of was her fault, and she just didn't give a shit. It was almost as liberating as having quit work. This was something that she should've done years ago--she should've done it as soon as she was eighteen, honestly. But she hadn't been able to work herself up to that point, and now she had. Fuck it; she didn't have to be friends with her mother just because they were related, and she certainly didn't have to listen to abusive phone calls, or pay money to take them to a terrible restaurant to be jokingly criticised by her mom and step-dad.

Could be that would be it, with the exception of the occasional spiteful Christmas card or whatever. Could be that in a few years they'd try again. But that would really depend on where Sandy was in a few years, and she had no idea where that would be. Watching out of the window as her mom had stormed out to get a taxi had been great, but thinking about where she was going was like stepping out of that window. Things were good, though, and there was a lot of training she had to do before anything could change.

Or, more specifically, there was more training she had to do before she could change. Things were going to change whether or not she was ready; even before that month was up, Maddie let her know that C.J. was thinking of moving in.

"The problem is, right," she explained. "I mean, you do occasionally make mistakes, and then there are things that you have to do which you don't want to do in the Sandy collar. And that's fine--that's part of the process, and it's fine. But if C.J. moves in, a mistake like that'll mean at least a month of sleeping on the couch, because there just isn't room in my room for both of you."

She wasn't wearing the Sandy collar, but it was still weird that Maddie was asking her permission for something--Maddie never asked her permission for things, not really. "I could. . ." Sandy trailed off. "Well, there's the hall closet, right? Or Lisa's room?"

"The hall closet is for Sandy and Eight, not for Samantha," said Maddie. "And I guess that if you want to try to talk to Lisa about moving in with her, that's your call, but I don't know. I mean, you're pretty close--well, you're moving in the right direction, anyway. It's your call, but it'd be a shame to lose that, anyway. No, I think it'd be the couch. On the plus side, he'd be covering a third of the rent, which means that you wouldn't have to pay anything, and Lisa's share of the rent would go down a bit, so that'll be a little more in your bank account."

The bank account didn't matter much. Actually, it wasn't a bank account--C.J. had talked to her about it, and they'd set it up to go into a portfolio of bonds, index funds, and a few individual stocks that Samantha had been optimistic about. It wasn't a big number, and since she wasn't really buying anything, that didn't really matter.


	11. Chapter 11

What did matter was that when C.J. moved in, there was always another name on the sign-up list on her ass. And also that he was able to drive her down to the Village every morning, and pick her up at night. He'd made partner, so he had a more regular schedule--there was still work that he did at home, but most of the time, he'd have Sandy back at Maddie and Lisa's place before Lisa got home. And his aunt's apartment was sufficient to Sandy's needs.

C.J.'s aunt had more or less decided that she couldn't handle flying overseas, even if she was travelling first class, and since C.J. was using the apartment for something, she was fine with letting him do what he wanted with it. Which meant that there was a cage for Sandy in the living room, and cameras set up for the website, and a laptop that she could work on, when she had a copyediting job to do.

Which was. . . well, Sandy wasn't quite ready to let that go. There were jobs available, and she could work quickly enough that it didn't take up that much time. It was an hour or two in the morning, and another hour or two at night, before C.J. came to pick her up. The rest of the time was rocking against the vibrator in her cage. Or the one outside of her cage, which she was allowed to use because it gave the website customers a better view.

And there were lunch hours. At 11:30 she'd put the blindfold on, and get something to eat, and she'd wait, head to the floor, ass facing the door, hoping that people would come and fuck her. It was C.J. most days, and Maddie some days--not often, but Sandy always knew it was Maddie, when it was--and Lisa never, and Zack and Noah pretty often.

And also Rania, occasionally. She'd been added to the list way before she did anything more than take pictures, but one day, after C.J. and Zack and Noah had fucked Sandy's ass, one after the other, her chin was lifted up, and there was a pussy there for her to lick.

It wasn't Lisa--she never had the time to get into Manhattan on her lunch breaks, and she also never started with having Sandy lick her out--and it certainly wasn't Maddie. Sandy licked eagerly, trying learn the shape of Rania's pussy with her lips and tongue, trying to find what it was that she liked, trying to make someone else happy, the same way that she would make Lisa and Maddie happy.

Or it could've been someone who broke in; that was an exciting sort of thought. Whoever it was didn't take long at all. It might not have even been a whole minute before she came to a brief and shivery orgasm. And then she left--Sandy could hear the footsteps and the door shutting behind her. Had she done something wrong? It was just, she was supposed to lick, and then she'd licked?

When they'd started, she'd been allowed to wear clothing in C.J.'s car. But then Maddie had worked out an alternative to that. C.J. was pretty strong; after Maddie had packed Sandy into one of those heavy-duty suitcases, C.J. was able to lift it, no problem, and take it down to his car, then up to his aunt's apartment, where he'd let her out, fuck her mouth a little, then her ass, and then go to work. Usually he didn't even finish. When Maddie had asked about that, he'd explained that he needed to save some energy for work, because while they were letting him get away with fewer billable hours, that had to do with him getting clients, and that was harder to do if he felt like he needed a mid-morning nap.

So, after that lunch session, Sandy wasn't really able to concentrate on her copyediting; she spent more time than usual on the vibrators, and then went to the suitcase a little earlier than usual; it wasn't the same as her cage, but it was at least somewhere dark and closed, so she could hide there for a bit.

If she'd done something wrong, Maddie would've let her know; when she didn't, it was clear that everything was okay, and that it was Rania, not like, some cleaning lady or something. It was someone that was on her list, and since Rania was the only other girl that Sandy had okayed, that was that.

Whoever it was, she used her a few more times after that, usually after Sandy had been fucked by more than one of the guys during lunch. It was always sort of fluttery, and fast, and she'd always run out soon afterward.

If she'd been allowed to talk, Sandy would've tried to reassure her that it was okay, and that she wanted to be useful, and wanted to make her happy. She wasn't allowed to talk, so she did her best to convey that message with her lips and tongue.

It didn't quite work; Rania felt a little more relaxed, as it went on, but not very relaxed. And she always left after she'd finished.

It might have had to do with some of the other changes. Sandy was still allowed to talk. Maddie wasn't even there when Sandy went in for her monthly check-up at the clinic, so she had to wear clothing and talk to the people there, and while Maddie was there for some of the hair removal sessions, it was mostly just her. But most of the time, Sandy wasn't talking, and she wasn't standing, and she wasn't wearing anything.

There weren't that many mirrors in the apartment, and there weren't any at the height that Sandy could see them, but every so often, she'd get a glimpse of herself in the coffee table, or the TV, or something. At first it looked weird, but then it was just. . . it looked natural.

It hadn't taken at all long for Maddie to get Sandy's piercings as wide as she'd wanted. They weren't, like, huge or anything, but there were pretty thick rings in her nipples, and then a big one in her nose. And once they got used to it, people would use that ring for a bunch of different stuff.

Leading her around where they wanted her to go, mostly. Maddie would use it to tie Sandy in place, when she didn't want her to move. A carabiner between her nose ring and one of the eyebolts in the apartment, and she'd have to stay there until it was untied. Maddie'd also added cock-sucking training to that--there was a dildo mounted under the eyebolt in the bathroom, so that when they fastened her nose there, she had to keep the dildo in her mouth. Which wasn't too bad--made her jaw sore, after a while, but it didn't make her gag at all anymore.

Once in a while, Maddie would talk to her a little about what was going on. Sandy didn't get invitations to group stuff anymore--she'd blown off enough things that basically it was just the group that Maddie had picked who still remembered that she was around. But there was still her investment portfolio, which was . . . well, if she kept not paying any bills, and putting away two thousand plus a month, it was bound to do well. Not, like, retirement well yet, but it was doing okay.

"The plan is," said Maddie, "that once you're transferred, there isn't going to be any more income. So it'll be managed--C.J. will handle that--and when . . . if . . . I mean, you know. There's the chance that a younger model will be appealing, sooner or later. Point is, if it can grow for a while, there will be enough there that you'll be okay."

It wasn't the sort of thing that Sandy really liked thinking about. But it was comforting, in a way? At least the numbers were getting higher, even though she wasn't do as much copy-editing as she'd planned on doing. Which was part of "coming along nicely," according to Maddie. Just like getting a little tongue-tied on visits to the clinic.

"The difference is, that while Sandy doesn't talk, Eight can't talk. And, well, there's no use in pretending that I can make you unable to read. Not with what the sort of results that I've been able to get with conditioning. But ideally, it's going to be uncomfortable for you to read, from here on in."

Sandy swallowed, and nodded.

"And," said Maddie. "It's your choice, but there isn't that much reason to slow things down--you can keep up with copy-editing for as long as you want, but you've got enough money that you'll be okay either way."

She wasn't quite ready to give that up, but that was the only bridge she wasn't ready to cross; everything else was fine.

"I've decided to add a tongue piercing," said Maddie. "We'll start with that. Then the labia. And then . . . well, when those heal up, maybe we'll have another demonstration."

"More science fair stuff?" asked Lisa, who'd been reading one of her medical journals on the couch, ostensibly not listening.

"That," said Maddie, "and also a gang-bang this time. I mean, Eight's a sexual appliance, so she'll be available for service. It's going to be a little tricky to get people who'll go through the STD screening, and who I want there, but it's probably time to start putting together a guest list."

That first demonstration had been. . . well, it was one of Sandy's clearest memories. Being tied to the coffee table, while Maddie explained what she'd been doing to her, and what she was going to do her.

That, and being fucked by everyone?

"I'm thinking that it'll include most of the people who were at the last one, and maybe one or two lucky winners from the website. And some new people--there are . . . anyway."

That, and also being fucked by some lucky winners from the website?

"We'll also move on some more of the Eight protocols, so that you'll be ready to serve as soon as possible," said Maddie. "Although I am going to need some time with Samantha before then."

"Goddammit!" said Lisa. "I need--listen, I'm wrapping up my residency, and even if I get a fellowship in the area, that's just for a year--I can't--"

"You'll manage," said Maddie. "Like you never had to deal with a month-long dry spell until now."

"That was before!"

"I know," said Maddie. "I know. Sorry. But it's one of those things--once the Eight collar is on, I'm not sure how often we're going to be seeing Samantha. I mean, she'll be able to take it off, if she wants it off, but the Samantha collar is going to be retired. So it'll be nice to get a sort of retrospective, you know? I mean, for the demonstration, if nothing else. A video of how she used to rub one out, and then something showing what she's up to? And also, I mean, aren't you curious about what Sandy's fantasizing about?"

Lisa shrugged, uncomfortably. "It's not really something I think about much," she said. "Mostly, it's about impaling her on a shock dildo."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "That's pretty great. But, come on? Aren't you curious about what's going through her head, while she grunts and moans?"

"Maybe," said Lisa. "But that's not the point."

"No," said Maddie. "It's not. But it's only a month. It's a chance to say goodbye to Samantha, for all of us."

"She'll be right here," said Lisa.

"In a way," said Maddie. "And it's an important bit of data for my files, and it's a chance for her to make a choice. Party's going to be fun, though. And Eight is going to be great. I mean, seriously."

"If you say so," said Lisa. "Sandy's fine, though. And not bald."

"I know," said Maddie. "And she does have pretty hair. I do regret the hair. But. . . well, when you see Eight, you'll agree. She's going to be great."

Sandy had been doing her best not to listen. That wasn't possible; they were talking about her, and every word was like a punch, almost. But it was also hot, and it was also. . . point was, she stayed on the floor, and watched Maddie's feet. Maddie had nice feet, and Sandy was only allowed to kiss them sometimes. But she could look at them.

Her hair? And giving up copyediting? But, on the other hand, another party. And also it would mean that she was coming along nicely, and doing what Maddie wanted.

Another month of Samantha wasn't going to be fun, though. A whole month? What was she supposed to do for a month?

Wear clothing, apparently, and then have to talk about her sex fantasies. That was going to be terrible. She was going to do it, but it was going to be terrible.

The piercings went okay, though. The tongue piercing healed in no time, and when they went to that tattoo place with Kaya and Barry, the labia piercings weren't that bad--they didn't hurt as much as the nipple piercings had, and those had hurt a lot less than Maddie tugging at Sandy's breasts during sex.

Also, after the labia piercings were done, Maddie started washing Sandy every morning.

C.J. put some bolts into the wall in the bathroom, so Maddie could spread Sandy out, and tie her up while she cleaned her. She was thorough, and in addition to playing with Sandy's breasts, which she would do a lot, she'd also concentrate on her pussy, getting her right up to the point of orgasm, and then letting her down.

According to Maddie, Sandy's pussy looked best on the day right before she was due to let her come. "It's so swollen, and juicy, and welcoming," she said. "You look gorgeous like that; it really is a pity how useful orgasms are."

And they were. . . well, the orgasms were good, no question. Usually it was Maddie's hand, but sometimes she'd let Lisa finish off Sandy with a vibrator, when she was busy. Only it did hurt a little, afterward, and there were a lot of aches and stuff that she hadn't been noticing which she noticed after--not right after, right after was curled up with a blindfold and a t-shirt and that was fine, but after she was let out, her pussy hurt, and her nipples hurt, and all of her piercings sort of ached a little.

If she was allowed, Sandy would take a break after that, and edge on the vibrator until things seemed better. Or she'd exercise. In addition to the elliptical, Maddie had gotten a treadmill. C.J. would do a bunch of work every morning while jogging on the treadmill, so Sandy couldn't use it then. But when he brought her back to the apartment after work, she could practice crawling on it. That wasn't easy, and it seemed like her knees always hurt, but it also made her feel like she was getting better at crawling, and that was important--it was basically the only way she got anywhere. And also, if one of the guys was there, they'd sometimes stop and watch her crawl for a bit, and then they'd fuck her ass. So it probably made that look good, too.

Then came the time for her to have to be Samantha for a month, just to wrap everything up. A visit to the doctor, without Maddie. She had to tell her that everything was fine, and that she didn't need to worry. Also the dentist, also a last touch-up at the hair removal place, all that.

And another lunch with Rania. Nobody had told her to do that, but she was allowed to meet people for meals when she was Samantha, if she wanted.

The thing was, she'd been indoors most of the time, so all those trips were. . . well, she took taxis, and those were okay, but the fact was, both Maddie and Lisa's place, and C.J.'s aunt's place were really nice, and clean. There was a cleaning service that took care of Maddie and Lisa's place when she was out in the Village, and the same thing there, so it was just sort of like things were clean by default.

New York wasn't clean by default, and even though the weather was nice--sort of crisp, and autumn?--everything smelled a little bit gross, and there were a lot of trash bags out by the curb.

Rania hadn't exactly jumped at the chance to have lunch with Sandy, but she didn't say no, either. It was just a long pause, and then, "Yeah, okay, I guess." Sandy figured that it was even odds that she was going to either be able to talk to her, or she was going to have to eat alone. And Rania had suggested the sort of vegan place that charged fifteen bucks for pistachio ravioli with "cream." Sandy could afford to pay that, but she didn't particularly want to, if it didn't mean having a chance to reassure Rania that everything was fine. According to the plan, she wasn't going to have a lot more chances like that, and everything was fine.

Sandy was there first, and got a potato starter which wasn't that bad, and was considering her main when Rania did show up, looking a bit like a kid who'd been called into the principal's office.

Sandy bounded up, gave her a hug, and led her to the table. If Rania was going to be like that, she'd be up and happy and friendly until Rania cracked.

It took a little while; Sandy had to make it through a seitan cutlet, and seitan wasn't . . . it didn't really cutlet well, frankly. Or at least, the place Rania chose didn't cutlet it well. And also, it was a little weird and inconvenient to use a fork and knife to eat. Or her hands--she was much more used to just eating whatever was in her bowl.

Sandy had the sense that if Rania knew that, she'd be freaked out enough to just leave, so she did her best to remember what it was like to eat at restaurants, and have opinions about food and all that. And eventually, Rania loosened up enough that she was able to talk about having sex with Sandy.

It was her that was doing that, anyway. And she felt really guilty about that, despite Sandy repeatedly explaining that it was fine.

"I mean. . . yeah, you do look like you're having a good time. But it's not . . ."

Sandy waited, trying to figure it out.

"It's not how it should be," said Rania. "I mean, we barely know each other! And when I started, I had the rule that I wouldn't, only . . . okay, here."

She fiddled with her phone, and passed it over to Sandy. It was a black-and-white picture of her being fucked in the ass by someone. Sandy's face was in focus, and the rest of her body was sort of drifted into a bit of a haze; the guy behind her was barely an outline. It was hard to see any detail, because the screen was small, but Sandy's mouth was open, and it looked like there was a little bit of come on her lower lip.

It was a really hot picture. Like, really hot.

"And that's the thing. I have these rules, and then I have to look at that, and the rules break, without me meaning to break them."

"Yeah, but--I mean, you taste nice! And I get that reward when you come, so there's--"

Rania looked around, and Sandy tried to be quieter. "It's just that, I don't know. I feel like I'm doing something wrong when you run out like that."

Rania bit her lip, and pushed a bit of eggplant around on her plate. "Sorry," she said. "I mean, I know I'm doing it, but. . . well, it's hard for me to stay after that, and face what I'm doing, when I'm not turned on any more.”

"What you're doing is fine, whether you're turned on or not," said Sandy.

"I know that you think that," said Rania. "I don't know if you're right. I mean, you've been changed. You've been changed a lot."

Sandy ate the last of her cutlet. "Yeah," she said. She put Rania's phone down on the table, and tapped it. "And what do you think: do I look happier now, or not?"

"Happier," said Rania, "isn't the only question. And I'm not even sure about the answer to that one. You look more turned on. And . . . okay, you look great, frankly. The nose ring is a little much, but other than that, you have been looking better. But you quit your job to do porn and get fucked, and--"

"And I quit my job," said Sandy, stressing the pronouns. "First of all, I'm not telling you to quit your job. And second of all, it was my job, and I quit it. Maddie didn't get me fired, and I . . . I mean, it's what I wanted."

"You were so happy to get that job!"

"I was." Samantha was, but close enough. "And it was great for a while, but some of the books I had to do--"

"So are you looking for work with a publisher who does the sort of books you'd rather be doing?"

Sandy shook her head. "Okay. Maybe different things make me happy now. But it's . . . that happens to people. And, I mean. . . if you don't want to do this sort of thing, you don't have to? But I hope that you will, because you're nice and I like you, and it's fun."

"It's fun," said Rania. "I know. And I don't know if I could stop even if I wanted to, if only because I can really use that extra cash. But it's . . . it's like a shortcut, right? I mean, we like each other, kind of? But we don't really know each other, and we haven't really gotten to know each other better. It's like getting a pile of Kinder Egg toys without having to eat that horrible chocolate, and that can't be good for you."

"I have no idea what Kinder Eggs are, or why eating horrible chocolate is good for you," said Sandy, feeling a bit cross with the direction Rania was taking.

Rania laughed. "Okay, fair enough. Bad example. Also, the toys aren't that great either. I don't know. I guess . . . I don't know. You're sure it's okay?"

"Positive," said Sandy.

"And this party coming up--you're absolutely sure you want to go through with that?"

"I'm pretty sure," said Sandy. "I mean, I don't know. It's a thing that Maddie is doing, yeah, and it's marking a new. . . but it's not like there are laws that say that if I put on a different colored collar, I have to lead my life differently. If I decide to back out, I can back out. I mean, if I want to. It's just a party."

"And it's you having sex with a bunch of people you don't know."

"That too," said Sandy. "Look, I'm not going to say that I'm not nervous about it. But it's. . . it's fine."

"And you're sure about that."

"I am," said Sandy. "I don't know if I'm going to be able to convince you that you should be fine about that. But I am genuinely okay with what's going on, and I don't want you to feel guilty about being part of what's going on."

Rania picked her phone up, put it away. "It's four hundred bucks for a night's worth of photography for me," she said. "So I really shouldn't be on the fence about whether I want it to happen. Or if I'm going to go if it does."

"Please?" said Sandy, reflexively. "Like I said, it's going to be a little scary, so it'd be nice if there was someone there who I knew was looking out for me? Not that you should stop it unless you see someone keep going if I say no, or something like that."

She couldn't say no. That was the thing. She hadn't told anyone. Maddie knew, but nobody else did. So Rania would be there, and feel okay being there, and everyone would be pleased about that. So that was. . .

They decided to pass on dessert--everything on the menu had cream in it, and the vegan cream they'd had before then didn't really impress either of them enough to be worth spending ten dollars on a vegan cream-based dessert. Then Rania headed out to take some pictures or something, and Sandy got a cab back to Maddie and Lisa's, where things were clean, and there was cream in the cream.

The rest of the month wasn't great. There were sessions with the video recorder and the riding crop, and Sandy had to try to masturbate for the camera--there were a couple of times Maddie made her climax like that, just with her own hand. Hands--she had to use the other one to pinch down really hard on her nipple to get an orgasm like that, and it wasn't even a very good orgasm.

The fantasy videos were almost worse. It was really hard to talk about that sort of thing, and it got harder when she was turned on. Which meant that there was more of the riding crop, which made it harder to come up with things to say--well, not to come up with things to say, but to say the things she came up with.

And the couches in the living room weren't very comfortable, but that's where she had to sleep.

If she'd been allowed, she'd have used the hall closet. The cage there was too small to lie down in properly--it was just barely big enough for her to crouch, but if she curled up tight, it would've been enough.

Also, C.J. and Lisa were both kind of grumpy that she wasn't having sex with them. C.J. wasn't exactly able to do anything about that; Maddie had made it clear to C.J. that he could fuck Sandy as much as he wanted and however he wanted, but having sex with Samantha would be sleeping around, and wouldn't be tolerated. Lisa though. . . there were a couple of times that Sandy thought that Lisa might just go for it, and pull her into her room and fuck the hell out of her, even without the collar and the rules and all that.

It was a terrifying thought, in a way, and a super hot one, but whenever it looked like Lisa was about to snap, Maddie would pull her over and have a talk, and she didn't. Lisa was grumbly about it--she was always a little grumbly when Sandy wasn't available, but at the same time, she was willing to let Maddie call the shots on this one.

It seemed like she was looking forward to that Eight collar, anyway. And Sandy. . . Sandy wasn't exactly looking forward to it. But it was where she was going, so she kind of wanted to get there.

The thing was, as Sandy, she'd learned to tolerate the sort of things that people were doing to her. She wouldn't tell Lisa to stop if Lisa was hurting her too much, and she wouldn't contradict Maddie, or anything like that. And given the way that she was plugged and hurt and all that, it was almost a relief when someone was fucking her. But that shock plug in her cunt still hurt, and she didn't necessarily want to do all the stuff they were doing to her. Which was what she was hoping would change with the Eight collar. She'd learned to tolerate that sort of treatment, and she'd learned that she couldn't object to that sort of treatment, but it would be even better if she was taught how to love it.

When Lisa decided that the labial piercings had healed up enough to allow her rings to be changed, and that Sandy's cunt was open for business again, Maddie set up the party.

It was. . . well, it was kind of terrifying, but at the same time, she'd already pretty much made all the changes that they were going to make with Sandy. The thing about her piercings was that she wasn't supposed to have any sort of sex with her pussy. But Maddie would still put in the plug in the morning, and take it out at night, so she was still being shocked there. And it was Maddie who was bathing her, and they'd started with those spike-socks, which meant that if she put any weight on her heels or soles, it'd cut her.

The other stuff was not being allowed to read anything at all, and getting her head shaved. As they got closer to the party, Sandy had been doing less copyediting, and was basically never doing any reading for fun, anyway--fun was the treadmill, and the elliptical, and a rowing machine, or spending time in one of her cages, edging against a vibrator. So that wouldn't be that big a change.

But the hair was something else. When Lisa was done fucking her, a lot of the time she'd let Sandy lie across her lap, and she'd play with Sandy's hair. Sometimes she'd sigh about that, and Sandy knew what she'd meant.

C.J. actually a fight with Maddie about Sandy's hair.

Sandy was in her cage in the bedroom at the time, so she could hear what was going on, but it'd reached the point where nobody really cared what Sandy heard, or what she thought about things, which was fine. But C.J. had just finished with her, when Maddie came in, looking like she'd had a bad day at work.

"So--" started C.J., and Maddie sighed.

"What?"

"What is it?" asked Maddie. "It's the hair, isn't it?"

"I . . . yes," said C.J. "It's just kind of gross, you know? It'd be like fucking a cancer patient or something."

"First of all, nothing wrong with fucking cancer patients," said Maddie. "I mean, they need love. Second of all, not all bald people are cancer patients. Third of all, and most importantly, this is what I want for her; you'll get used to it. Or you could not fuck it if you don't want to; there may well be one or two men out there who do not have a sex slave who their fiance lets them fuck. And finally, when we get to work on our permanent staff, we'll go with lots of shining streams of beautiful hair, okay? I'll make sure to pick a guy with no history of male pattern baldness, and a girl who'll be able to grow her hair down to her waist. This is--"

"This is you making her ugly for no reason," said C.J. "Come on--I just want to fuck something pretty."

"Well, if you want to try this on your own, I'll share my notes. But it's not for no reason, and it's not something I'm going to be changing my mind about at this point."

C.J. didn't say anything, and after a while, he sighed, and lay back down on the bed.

"I know babe. I'm sorry. But I'll tell you what--after it's done, if you want, I'll suck you off when you watch some of the older videos with her and Lisa. That'll be. . ."

"How long before . . . I mean, is this something you're going to be doing with the next girl, too?"

"That'll depend," said Maddie. "And for all I know, Sandy will change her mind about going through with it."

Maddie knew perfectly well that Sandy wasn't going to change her mind about going through with it; she couldn't change her mind about going through with it. But knowing that C.J. was unhappy about it left her really nervous when that day came around.


	12. Chapter 12

The first thing odd that happened was that Maddie took her collar away, right after giving Sandy her morning bath. The Samantha collar had been gone since she'd had that farewell month, but without the Sandy collar, her neck felt weird and light and wrong. And then she had to get dressed, and sit on furniture.

It wasn't her clothing, exactly--it was a red cocktail dress that Maddie had bought for her. And also the shoes were new, and they probably fit right, but she wasn't used to clothing, so Sandy wasn't even sure if it felt awkward because she wasn't used to it, or what. And they'd also taken out her nose ring and nipple rings and all that, and that felt weirder than the jewelry ever had.

Rania came early, and started taking picture of her like that--just talking to Lisa, or sitting on the couch, and so on. Those weren't going to look anything other than awkward, but maybe that was the point. Rania was certainly looking aggressively unsexy--big hoodie, baggy jeans, hiking boots--and she sort of ducked out of the way whenever Sandy looked at her. Only she was also breathing a little hard, so . . . well, whatever. She was there, which was what Maddie wanted, so Sandy had helped with that, and also Sandy knew what was going on with her, so . . . whatever. It was fine.

Maddie had gotten a little dressed up. Not, like, party dressed up, but the sort of thing that she wore when she was going to a first meeting with a new client, or when she had to present her recommendations to a board of directors, or whatever. Competent businesswoman was her normal look, and now she'd decided to go with competent businesswoman leveled up. So, like, instead of pearls, it was this rose-diamond necklace thing, and while her shoes didn't jump out, Sandy was pretty sure they cost more than every shoe she'd ever owned, combined.

The apartment wasn't set up the same way as it had been. There were still a lot of computer screens, with videos of Sandy doing stuff on them, and the big screen was set up for Maddie's presentation, but there wasn't that cage on the coffee table in the middle, like there had been last time.

Finally, she couldn't take it. "So, um," she said to Maddie.

Maddie was dialing her phone. She raised an eyebrow, and then made the call, confirming that someone named Louis was going to be coming. When she was done, Sandy tried again.

"It's just . . . where should I be?"

"You'll be mingling," said Maddie. "People are going to be curious, so you're going to answer their questions."

Sandy gave her a stricken look.

"Just talk, in general," said Maddie. "That is, until we get that new collar on, and so on. Then you'll do what you're told. But until then, we're having a bunch of people over, and I want you to be a good host."

"But--"

Maddie had already turned away, to talk to the caterer. Who was going to be delivering hors-d'oeuvres and a charcuterie platter, and . . . And Sandy wandered off, sat back down in a chair, feeling lost. Rania took a picture. Naturally.

There were tablets on the endtables. Sandy picked one up, and started swiping through it. There was a slide-show type thing set up, and it was about her. Well, it was kind of about her; she was the example, but it was about the whole theory of what Maddie was doing, and what decisions she'd made, and so on. After a little bit, it looked like Lisa was going to go over and talk to her, but Maddie stopped her.

"It's the last thing she's going to read," said Maddie. "Let her finish."

That made Sandy's blood run hot, and then cold. She ran to the bathroom, and sat there, and shivered. And then went back out; she didn't pick up the tablet again. She just sat there, and waited, and hoped and tried not to think about anything.

Lisa got the caterer stuff in, and helped Maddie set it up, but there was still more waiting, and Sandy couldn't go to her closet and rub against the vibrator because that wasn't allowed, and what did people do with their hands? She must have known at some point--she was almost thirty, and she'd had hands that whole time, and they hadn't really bothered her that much. But keep them at her side, or on her lap? At her sides was impossible, and on her lap made her aware of her pussy, and she just. . .

Finally, the guests started showing up, which didn't make things any easier.

First it was C.J. and another guy wearing a suit. "That's her?" he asked.

"Yeah," said C.J.

The guy who was with him wasn't nearly as tall as C.J., and even though they looked like they were about the same age, the other guy wasn't in nearly as good shape, and hair was already starting to thin. "She looks alright, I guess," he said. "But, bald?"

C.J. shrugged. "You want to understand exactly what Maddie's doing, talk to Maddie," he said. "I'm just along for the ride."

"She looks like an okay ride," said the guy.

"Tony, she's an amazing ride--you can do whatever you fucking want to her, and she'll just be gagging for it. It's incredible."

"Really," said Tony.

"Not yet," said Maddie. "Until she has that collar on, you guys don't even start touching her, okay? I'm serious about that, C.J."

"So, what can we--"

"You can talk to her, if you want," said Maddie. "Or you can have some of these spinach puff things. Or you can read up--"

"Spinach looks good," said C.J., heading over to the kitchen counter. Tony sat down next to Sandy.

"So, um--this is seriously what you want to do with your life?" he asked.

Sandy gave a quick nervous nod.

"Well, probably better than law, but. . . okay, why?"

That was a question. That was not a question that Sandy was able to answer, not to herself, not to some guy who she hadn't met. But she was supposed to answer questions. "I . . . it's just kind of . . . it's what I like, I guess."

Tony shrugged, gave her another look. Then C.J. brought him a plate with pastry things, and there were beers, and the two of them started talking about some sort of tax thing.

Noah and Zack came in next. Noah basically ignored her and went straight for the cold-cut platter, but Zack came over, and made awkward conversation for a few minutes, before going over to the cold-cut platter.

More people came after that, too many at once for Sandy to see who they all were. Vadim was there, with a woman who was probably Natalia. For whatever reason, Sandy had sort of assumed that Natalia was blonde, but she was actually a red-head. She did have the sort of polished beauty that Sandy had expected. They talked with Maddie for a bit, then sat and studied the tablets, talking to each other about what they were reading. Some guy named Armand, who'd won a thing from Sandy's website. He looked young; maybe twenty, twenty-two? Something like that. And he gave Sandy an unsettlingly intense stare, before starting up a conversation with some businesswoman that Sandy didn't know.

It was a pretty big living room. Sandy didn't know how much Maddie and Lisa were paying for that apartment, but it had to be a lot--her six-fifty a month, back when she'd been paying rent probably hadn't been more than a fifth, at best. But even though it was a big living room, it got pretty full. There were like fifteen people there, not counting Maddie, Lisa, and C.J.

Most of them were people she didn't know. Rich-looking people she didn't know. But there was one other person she did know, who was one of the last visitors to show up. Amy. The Amy who'd been her direct boss for the last few years.

She said hello to Maddie first, and it didn't exactly look like two people who'd known each other for a long time. And then she grabbed a few of the snacks, and sat down next to Sandy.

"Are these things onion?" she asked, holding up a little pastry.

Sandy shrugged, uncomfortably.

Amy took a bite. "They are, and they're great. I knew that you were distracted with something, but I had no idea, Samantha."

"Sorry?" said Sandy.

Amy shrugged. "It's okay," she said. "I mean, publishing is worth doing when it's what you want to be doing; if you just need to pay the bills, being a manager at a McDonalds pays better than being a full editor."

"I guess?" said Sandy.

"Trust me. I've considered sending out resumes. But then there's always the next project--we're doing a tie-in thing with one of those antique shows? Tracking what happened to pieces after they were on the show. The guy who's doing it is an obsessive loon, but the good kind--he's got these portfolios on every. . ." Amy trailed off and shook her head. "But I guess you weren't actually that interested in that sort of thing."

"Sorry," repeated Sandy. "It seems like a fun project, I guess, but." She shook her head. It sounded like a fun project, in theory, but the fact was, if she was supposed to work on that, it'd be fun for an hour or two, and then she'd want to be back in her closet, rubbing up against a vibrator. Right then, she wanted to be in a closet rubbing against a vibrator.

"Have you read this thing?" asked Amy, tapping the tablet that was left on the endtable.

"I guess I looked through it a bit," said Sandy. "But I didn't really. . . I mean, I mostly lived through it, so it's not like I needed to read about it?"

"You should. Well, actually, I guess you should've--probably not really enough time left for you to read it all now, and the plan is that you're not supposed to read anything else from now on."

Amy was talking like she always talked; same bright tone, same smile. But it was weird. It was weird seeing her again to begin with, with the same sort of jewelry that she usually wore. It was like leaving the zoo, and coming home and seeing a kangaroo in the living room. But there was something else there; it wasn't just that she was talking to Sandy--it was that there was a new project on her desk, and she was really interested in it.

"The prose style is too academic," said Amy. "A little too careful hedging some of the claims that she's making, and she'd need to sort out some of the longer sentences. And I'm really not sure about the market niche. But it's literally the most fascinating thing I've read all year."

Sandy gave a little laugh, which sounded weird even to her own ears; it felt like it'd been a while since she'd actually laughed--not like, polite laughed, but actually laughed because something funny happened and she couldn't not.

"Sorry," she said. "It's just that I'm not sure that Maddie is looking for cover blurbs."

Amy smiled back. "And it relies a lot on the videos. And also I'm not sure I'd have believed it if I hadn't seen the changes that she describes, from a different angle. She really did make you over into what she wanted, and it's remarkable."

"Thanks?" said Sandy.

"You're welcome," said Amy.

Then Maddie cleared her throat. People quieted down and found seats. And then she turned on the main TV monitor, which showed a video of Sandy masturbating. It was like the first time Maddie had filmed her, and it was really uncomfortable to watch; Sandy blushed and looked back at the door to the hall cabinet. It wasn't locked or anything, and she wasn't wearing a collar, so it wasn't like there were rules, and--

Amy patted her knee. "Don't worry," she said. "It'll be over soon."

That was not entirely reassuring, but Sandy sat there, and listened to Maddie describe Samantha, as she'd started off. Interested in BDSM, but at a shallow level--broad, but shallow. Samantha hadn't known what she wanted, and when they all listened to one of her early sessions where she was forced into talking about her fantasies, that became pretty clear; she would describe getting tied up, and then not really know where it would go from there. Or she'd have some fantasy monster ravish her, but be pretty short on details as to what ravishing meant.

It was probably the most embarrassing thing that Sandy had ever had to sit through. Because that was her, gasping out those soft-focus fantasies, as Maddie alternated between using the vibrator to get her to say more, and using the riding crop to punish her for pausing. It was her, and it wasn't her--it was sort of who she was, really, and they were all seeing that.

There were more of those videos. The part where she'd started playing with her breasts when she was masturbating was brought up as a sign of how she was being changed, but the fact was, those stories were a better sign. It went from vampires and mind control to things like having to do internet porn, or being raped in a bar--it went from soft focus to tight focus, and rather than being interested in bondage and servitude and that sort of thing, it started focusing on the sort of things that Maddie wanted her to do.

"Without trying for a Freudian or cognitive-behavioral examination as to why foot fetishism is one of the more common paraphilias--there was a study that showed podophilia as being almost sixteen times as common as mammaphilia, though I'm not confident in those numbers--the fact is that it is a useful fetish for someone like Samantha to have. If she is going to be on her hands and knees at all times, it is best if she has a sexual attraction to those body parts that are visible from that point of view. And as you can see, while expunging a paraphilia can be the next thing to impossible, implanting one worked relatively well--keep an eye out for her mentioning feet in her fantasy sessions."

Maybe she did, a little. But, well, whatever. Feet were cute. That was. . . Sandy wasn't sure why she thought that--it seemed like something that she had always sort of believed, but maybe it wasn't? She didn't remember, and she couldn't say, and, yeah.

There were a lot of changes in those videos.

Even though people were clearly interested, Maddie didn't let any of them run on too long. It was a bit like one of those stop-motion animations. The changes between her day-to-day hadn't been that noticeable, but once they were able to watch bits of each of those one after the other, they could all see it. They could see the way that she'd gone from just sort of hinting at anal sex as a horrible thing that might happen, and oh no, whatever would she do when that horrible thing happened, to a thing that was happening, to something that she was hoping for.

She was also getting fitter, as the videos went on. She had been working out a lot, and she'd only been allowed to eat what Maddie and Lisa had given her, most of the time. It wasn't like she'd been fat before, but she'd been . . . well, she'd been a little softer around the edges. From video to video, her arms and legs slowly got more definition, and her stomach slowly got flatter. Truth was, her breasts had probably gotten a little smaller. But it looked like they'd gotten bigger, because of how the rest of her was skinnier.

Whether it was good for her in any real sense, the whole thing with Maddie had made her look better.

It was a little easier to see, as the videos went on. Because while she wasn't Sandy yet, she was getting closer. The kid who'd been up there talking about being ravished, with a little hitch in her voice when she'd said that word--it'd hurt to see her. And then came the session with Lisa, the one where Samantha had decided to give up being Samantha, and accepted who she was.

Of course Maddie had been recording that. Lisa actually excused herself, and went to the bathroom when Maddie showed that video, and Maddie didn't dwell on why Lisa had been extra hard on Samantha for that session. Just that it'd been building up for a while, and that it had finally come out.

Sandy had thought that Maddie had gotten an idea of what had happened. That Samantha had tried to tell Lisa to stop, over and over, until she'd realized that she couldn't tell anyone to stop anymore; that she wasn't the sort of person who told people to stop. If she had, she didn't phrase it exactly that way. The way Maddie had described it, she'd been working on expanding Sandy's boundaries for what was acceptable without actually pushing at those boundaries. That she'd trained Sandy not to talk, and not to object, so that she'd be able to go past where she thought her boundaries lay, and discover that she could handle more pain than she'd thought she was able to handle.

It could be that Maddie was right. She probably was--Maddie was usually right. Sandy had wanted to be there for Lisa when she was feeling broken by Nathan dumping her, and if she'd been able to object, she wouldn't have been there for Lisa. And she had been able to take what Lisa had done. There were still one or two little scars on her butt from that session--little hard lines that she could feel, when she was allowed to touch herself like that. But she'd taken it, and Lisa had felt better, and she'd learned that she was Sandy.

There were a few more changes after that--the piercings were the most noticeable, but Maddie was more interested in the way it'd gotten more difficult for Sandy to start talking, at the beginning of one of those Samantha sessions. "There isn't any shortage of material, once she gets past that," explained Maddie, stopping the video. "But it is more difficult for her to talk. That, more than anything, showed that she was ready to progress beyond being Sandy to becoming Eight."

Maybe it had? She could still talk to people, though. She'd just never really liked starting conversations, and now she didn't have to. It was like the other stuff Maddie talked about. Yeah, maybe some of it was true. But some of it was just the way she'd always been, just a little more. Probably?

Maddie's presentation ended with a video demonstrating how Sandy's labial piercings could be used to hold her cunt closed, with the shock dildo trapped inside--there were rings that went through the piercings on either side, and the base of the shock dildo was designed to rest against those. It had been a bit uncomfortable when Maddie had tried that out on her, but Sandy wasn't sure it was any worse than the harness that had held it in before. It gave more access, anyway.

"So," she said, when she was done. "Questions?"

Amy spoke up first. "Is this something that would work on anyone? Or is it--well, I can certainly say that Samantha lost focus on things she had been interested in, but I'm not sure that it would be. . ."

"I'd like it to be a science," said Maddie. "I mean, there are people who'd say that it is, and that whatever someone starts with can be shifted, using behavioral tools. One or two of those people are in this room, and aren't happy with that assertion! But in my experience, it's not a science--it's much more of an art. As you've seen in the text, my failure rate is quite high, and while the last few have been successes, I think that had more to do with my choice of subject than with the improvement in technique."

"Oh," said Amy sounding a little disappointed. "I was thinking that maybe Greg," she said, to Sandy.

Greg was in sales, and Sandy . . . well, it wasn't exactly right to say that she liked him. But she remembered liking him, anyway. He was really enthusiastic about all sorts of things, which was probably why he'd gotten a job that involved trying to get more shelf space in bookstores. But he was more enthusiastic about the Giants, and hoverboards, and the last movie he'd seen.

"If you have someone in particular in mind," said Maddie, "you've got my email. But I'm really booked up for the next while; there's a project I'm committed to, and then I'm looking for something a bit more personal. And it's not a quick process."

Amy gave a thoughtful sort of nod. "Would you be able to consult on this sort of project?"

"Maybe," said Maddie. "I'm not sure . . . maybe; we'll have to talk."

Then Noah raised his hand, and Maddie looked over at him.

"She has money?" he said.

"Absolutely," said Maddie. "That was in the handouts. There's always the chance that things won't work out, and this way. . . well, it's easier for everyone involved, if there's a back-up plan."

"Right," said Noah. "But, like, if someone buys her, they could just tell her to give them her money."

"Sure," said Maddie. "And that's a fair question. There are a couple of things that I'd say. The first is that while she's in my control, I have ethical standards. Which isn't to say that I'm going to insist that everyone adhere to my standards. The second is that, as a rule, the sort of people who can afford something like this don't need to loot their pets' retirement accounts. But reversals come to everyone, and I'm certainly not going to tell them what to do with their things."

"Right," said Noah. "But--"

"But the other thing is that Sandy is a transitional form. And she's nervous about a lot of things--you saw how long it took her to give up on the copyediting, even when she wasn't having much fun copyediting."

"You always were very good at that," said Amy, next to her. "Not necessarily the fastest, but you got things done in time, and better than average."

"Thanks?" said Sandy.

"My point is," continued Maddie, "that if Sandy starts worrying about money, that'll interfere with her becoming Eight."

"Wait," said one of the other guys, someone Sandy didn't recognize. "I thought that's what happens next."

"What happens next is that she puts on a collar, and gets treated in a different way," said Maddie. "Samantha didn't become Sandy right when I put on that collar, and Sandy is still . . . she's still going to have the expectations that Sandy has, she's still going to have the reflexes that Sandy has. Putting on a collar isn't going to change that. But it's part of the way there. And knowing that she has what to fall back on is part of that."

"Okay," said Noah, slowly. "But once she's Eight--"

"Once she's Eight, it'd take a bit of work to get her back to the point where having money will matter. She'd sign things over--well, Eight won't, because Eight is going to be strongly conditioned against reading or writing. But once the transition is done, the money won't matter as much. Not to her, anyway."

"There aren't any price tags in the readings," said Armand, the guy from the website. "How much does a bitch like that cost?"

Maddie sighed. "Eight is already spoken for, I'm afraid. And the exact sum will vary, depending on who she matches with, and how extensive the necessary modifications are. And with how much I want to do this! It's my hobby, really, and if it's something that's boring or unpleasant, that'd put the number up. I mean, I don't want to come home from work to have to spend four hours on another job."

"Yeah," he said. "But, ballpark."

"Ballpark? Two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand," said Maddie. "For someone like Eight. If it was a project I found less interesting, it could double, or even triple. But the next contract job I'd be available for would be in two to four years, and that's if everything works out right with the next batch of subjects. I have no idea what I'll be charging then, or even if I'm going to want to keep doing this by that point."

"A quarter of a million bucks for some nerd?"

Maddie sighed again. "Yes, Armand," she said. "That's about right. Only that's the cost for purchase. Rental is free, at least for tonight."

There were a few more questions, which Maddie answered. And then she looked over at Sandy. "So," she said. "It's just about showtime. Anything you'd like to say to all these nice people, Samantha?"

"Um, I guess, I. . ." Sandy flushed. Everyone was looking at her, and they all knew what was going to happen, and they were all--

"Stand up, please," said Maddie.

Sandy stood up.

"You can think of it as last words," said Maddie. "I mean, things sometimes don't go according to plan, and plans change, and all that. But if everything goes right, and you're good, you won't have to talk again. So--anything to say? Anything at all?"

"I, um. . ." Sandy had no idea what Maddie wanted from her. "Thanks, I guess? I mean, I. . ."

"Good enough," said Maddie. "Perfect. Get undressed, please."

It wasn't really fair. She'd been spending a lot of time undressed, and everything was new, and she didn't exactly know where all the snaps were. So it wasn't exactly the most elegant strip-tease that anyone had ever done. But eventually she managed to get out of everything she was wearing, leaving most of it on the couch next to Amy.

"There are a lot of final experiences today," said Maddie. "If you could walk over here, please?"

Sandy walked over. There were those socks with spikes; she put those on, and knelt. Everyone was watching her, and she was watching Maddie, who looked like she was enjoying herself.

When they'd set her up in the morning, Maddie had done up Sandy's hair in a braid, and also had done her makeup and everything. It had been a while since Sandy had gotten her hair cut; every so often, Maddie would give her a trim, but just little trims. So her hair had gotten pretty long by that point. She could feel the weight of the braid, as Maddie lifted it up. And then the weight was gone, and the braid was on the chair next to her.

Maddie turned her around, so Sandy could face the audience as Maddie started buzzing her hair off with an electric razor.

It didn't hurt, exactly. But Sandy was breathing like she sometimes would when Lisa was hurting her, and she was trying to hold back her tears to keep from bothering anyone. Like she was gulping in air, and trying to hold things in, rather than breathing out.

The thing was, she was naked, and everyone was dressed, and they were all going to fuck her, probably. One after the other after the other, because that way Maddie could get data on each act, and it'd be too confusing with everyone going at her at once. But right then, while she could still see them--Amy's jangly bracelets and clunky bakelite necklace that she always wore, Armand's stupid goatee and the creases on Vadim's face, they were all sort of faceless, somehow. Like they were statues of people that were moving and breathing and talking?

It was weird, and like she'd had too much to drink, or was coming down with a fever or something. Sandy did her best to hold still as Maddie buzzed off the last of her hair.

It wasn't, like clean-shaven. Not yet. But it was way less hair than she'd ever had in her life. Her head felt weird and light and cold and ugly. There was a mirror on the table in front of her, and even though she didn't want to look at those weird people statues, she really didn't want to look in that mirror. But she did, and she looked terrible. Her mascara had run, even though she didn't remember crying, and since it wasn't like her head had been shaved close, her skin looked sort of gray, rather than white. Which made the rest of her face look overly made-up, and.

And Maddie pulled Sandy's chin up, and put the collar on. Polished steel, and wide, with that eight etched into the front, right over the lock. It snapped shut, and even though it was just a little click, it felt a bit like people would be able to hear that down the hall.

"Good," said Maddie. "She'll be available for service in the restroom in a bit, but Lisa volunteered to finish up a few things with her, before she's ready to serve?"

There were some mutters. Lisa, at least, just looked like Lisa. She clicked her tongue, and jerked her head towards the bathroom. Sandy crawled over, as quickly as she could.

"As far as the model release forms go," said Maddie, behind her, "we are going to do our best to protect your privacy, obviously. But there is the possibility of a distinguishing mark or tattoo making it to the version of the videos that are made available online. No; you certainly don't have to sign. But as with the STD screening, I will insist that anyone who is going to be using Eight will have to sign, if only for my protection."

Then Lisa shut the door behind them, and shook her head at Sandy. "Don't you look a treat?" she said.

Sandy winced. She didn't know what answer Lisa wanted, and she also wasn't supposed to talk. Ever. 

"Truth is, I guess I can sort of see what Maddie's going for, but it's going to take some getting used to. Anyhow. Butt up in the air; we're going to be flushing you out a few times, while I shave off whatever's left. Made for a fun demonstration, but now we're going to have to get that fucking carpet cleaned now, and I am not paying one single, solitary dime of that, you can believe me."

Sandy pressed her face down to the tile of the bathroom floor, as Lisa pushed the nozzle of an enema tube up Sandy's butt.

"This is what you want, though, right? I mean, if not, there are going to be some disappointed people, but I could get you out of here, if you need it. Just say the word?"

Sandy nodded, feeling the tile moving against her cheek as she nodded--the floor was wet and there were tears in her eyes, but there wasn't any reason for that; it was what she wanted.

Enemas weren't something that anyone had really been that interested in doing to Sandy, for the most part. The guys often used condoms when they were fucking her ass, and even when they weren't, none of them were particularly finicky.

It turned out, not too surprisingly, that they hurt. Not that much at first--the nozzle was way smaller than some of the things they'd put up Sandy's butt. And at first it wasn't too bad, but Lisa kept filling it, until Sandy's stomach was making weird noises, and it was starting to cramp.

"Yeah," said Lisa, when she was done. "Normally, I'd say that stuff that the nurses have to do to people isn't that sexy, but you do look nice when you're hurting, S. . . Eight."

Sandy gave a little whimper. Lisa smiled. "In the tub," she said. "And don't leak. We're going to have to pay the service to clean this bathroom after they're done in here, but I don't want shit on the floor right away."

It was a little tricky, getting into the tub without putting weight on either the ball of her foot or her heel, but she managed it. And then Lisa sprayed some shaving cream on her head, and got to work.

It wasn't like getting her head shaved hurt, but Sandy really, really had to use the toilet, and Lisa wasn't going to let her until she was done getting her head shaved. So she had to sit there and take it, and wait.

Finally, when she was done, Lisa let her use the toilet. It felt like the most diarrhea she'd ever had, and also like she was visibly deflating.

"You know," said Lisa. "When they're doing things to measure pain tolerance, they'll have people stick their hands in ice water. No physical damage, but it hurts like hell after a while."

Sandy winced as she wiped herself.

"Back in the tub," said Lisa. "You're going to get filled up again, and then . . . well, then you get the hose, I think."

Sandy shivered as Lisa filled her up again. With warm water, though, only when she was done filling that, she started running the cold water, and Sandy started twitching, trying to get out of the stream that went from the faucet to the drain.

"Ready?" said Lisa, once Sandy's stomach was straining again, and she was back on her knees.

A little nod from Sandy, as Lisa aimed the showerhead at her. And then she yelled, when the water hit her. It was too much. It was way too much, and too cold, and Lisa shifted her aim from Sandy's face to her breasts.

"Knew that there was a reason that Maddie paid for that sound-proofing," said Lisa. Then, "Hands by your sides," she added, in a voice that promised consequences if she wasn't obeyed. Sandy did her best to do as she was told, to hold still, to keep from letting any of that enema out of her butt. But it wasn't a question of what she wanted to do; that shower head was spraying her with ice water, and whether or not she wanted to stay still, Sandy's body was trying to squirm out of the way. She managed to keep her hands by her side, but there was no way she was going to be able to keep completely still.

Lisa didn't seem to mind too much. By the time she was done, Sandy was getting light-headed, because of how irregular her breathing had been, but Lisa was grinning.

"Yeah, like I said, I guess I can see her point. Better without the makeup, anyway."

Sandy was shivering hard, trying to calm herself, but at the same time, she leaned forward, her mouth up. Lisa laughed. "Get up and shit," she said. "Then towel off, and then it's time for you to entertain our guests. Maybe I'll take a turn when they're done."

Lisa turned to leave, and then she looked back, from the door. "Oh," she added. "Happy birthday, by the way."

Was it Sandy's birthday? She'd lost track of the date a while ago. It wasn't summer, though, and . . . and that wasn't what Lisa had meant. It wasn't Sandy's birthday--it was Eight's.

Sandy finished wiping herself off, and crawled out to the middle of the bathroom floor, and waited on her hands and knees, facing away from the door.

Counting everyone, there were nineteen people there to watch the production, and they were all going to fuck her. Probably. Hopefully? No, not necessarily that. But probably.

Rania had come in at some point when Lisa was spraying her; Sandy hadn't noticed her. Rania was pretty good at staying in the background, even somewhere as small as the bathroom. Just in the corner, with her camera; she got a couple more pictures as Sandy waited.

Then Tony came in--the guy who'd been with C.J. And finally Sandy had something warm to suck on. His cock was a little bigger than Noah's, and a little smaller than Zack or C.J.'s. It was lovely and firm, and he didn't have the sort of discipline that guys who'd been fucking her for a while tended to have; his knees buckled as she sucked on him, and then he came in her mouth, for a lot longer than those guys usually did. Could be that he hadn't been getting it on the regular.

After he staggered out, it was Vadim and Natalia, and their tastes weren't nearly that simple. Vadim used the whip hard enough to leave cuts on Sandy's back, which burned when Natalia pissed on her. And then she cleaned out Sandy's cunt with the toilet brush. In ten minutes, they hurt her worse than Lisa had in that entire night after Nathan had broken up with her. Sandy took what Vadim and Natalia gave her. She'd screamed and kicked and made broken noises, but she hadn't begged, and she hadn't told them to stop, even though everyone had agreed that if Sandy told them to stop, they would.

That time with Lisa, though, it had stopped when Lisa was done. That had taken a long time, but it had just been her. This time, it was like the worst bit of what Lisa had done, and then there was someone else who came in, full of energy, and ready to abuse her. It was . . . after Vadim and Natalia, it had been two of the sort of rich looking guys that Maddie had invited. Sandy didn't know them, and it wasn't like they introduced themselves. One of them started fucking her ass, right away, hard, while the other one slapped her face, over and over, and then put a bag over it, and had her suck him off through the hole in the bag. Then it was someone else, who didn't even take the bag off. He, or she, whipped Sandy's tits with something thin and metallic, and then a guy jerked off on her, the come dripping down over the marks from the whipping.

Then Amy came in. Sandy could recognize the clink of her bracelets against each other. She paused for a bit, then she took off the bag off Sandy's head.

"Well," said Amy. "You seem to be. . . well."

Amy sat down on the edge of the tub. Sandy crouched on the floor and watched her. There was a bit of blood from the whippings that she'd gotten--not much, but some. And there was come on her tits, and there was a bit that had leaked out of her ass, and there was a puddle of piss from when Natalia had peed on her back.

"It's an interesting look for you," said Amy. "But . . . I mean, does it really work, or is this who you always were?"

Sandy didn't know how to answer. Her legs were trembling, and her throat was dry, and she felt sort of like she was going to start crying--great, heaving, racking sobs. But also like she was never going to cry, ever again.

"Piss on the floor," said Amy, and Sandy did. There wasn't that much there--she'd pissed when she'd been allowed to void those enemas, but there was some.

"Now lick it up."

Sandy did that too, her face down to the floor, tongue out. It was. . . she wasn't used to not having the weight of her hair, not used to it not being there when she leaned forward, flipping down. It was. . .

"Marvelous," said Amy. "And . . . let's see. This is the control device for the thing in your cunt, correct?"

Sandy nodded, still licking up her piss.

And then she jerked forward, screaming, as the pain ripped through her; that was the highest setting, and Amy wasn't letting go of the trigger. She was . . . it stopped, and she collapsed, face down in a puddle of her own piss.

"You'll have a picture of that for me?" asked Amy.

"Maddie's in charge of distribution and that," said Rania. "But probably."

"Good," said Amy. "It's. Well, you know. Relationship goals, I think it's called?"

"Sure," said Rania.

Then Sandy convulsed again, as Amy pushed down on the trigger. "And she can't object, can she?"

"There's no gag or anything," said Rania.

"No," said Amy. "I don't suppose there is. Well, I've really got to get back home--I've got a ton of work to do. Enjoy your party, Eight."

As Amy left, Sandy went back to licking up the rest of her piss. She didn't have to, exactly--Amy was the one who'd told her to do it, and she was gone, but someone had told Sandy to do something, so she was going to keep trying to do it.

Armand came in before she was done. He looked at her, shook his head, then looked at Rania. "Out," he said.

"But I--"

"Fucking get out," said Armand. He didn't yell or anything, but he had that sort of overfocused look.

Rania shrugged, and left.

"Fucking bitch," he said, conversationally. Sandy finished licking up the puddle, and looked up at him. He shook his head again. "Quarter of a million dollars?" he said. "You're not worth a fucking dime, bitch."

Sandy waited.

"You want to suck my cock?"

She nodded, eagerly. That was something that would be easy, and--

He slapped her across her face. "You stupid fucking bitch," he said, pulling his belt off. "It'd be like putting my cock in a sewer."

Sandy straightened up and waited; he put the belt around her neck, and pulled it tight. Then tighter than that. He held it, crouching down next to her. "The thing is, if I just kept pulling, that psycho and her lawyer buddy would get me in trouble. But it wouldn't be murder, would it?"

Sandy couldn't breathe; she tried to keep her hands at her sides, like she was supposed to, but they kept rising up to her neck.

"It'd be killing someone's diseased pet."

There were spots behind Sandy's eyes, and she couldn't--she pitched on her side. Then Armand unlooped the belt just a little. Three choked breaths, and then it tightened again. And then he did have her suck him off, but he didn't take the belt off her when he did, and it tightened up when he orgasmed--she couldn't swallow his come, so it leaked out the sides of her mouth. He spat on her before he went back to the other room, and Rania came back in, taking a few pictures of Sandy when she did.

The rest of the guests used her, one after the other, and then they started coming back in; Armand fucked her three times, and each time, Sandy was sort of afraid that he was going to kill her. Well, not exactly afraid--but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, if it looked like he was going to do that.

Then they were done. Lisa came in and hosed her down again; it turned out, that despite how numb she felt, that cold water could still make her shriek and jump--and then led her out to the living room, to lie at Maddie's feet as she talked to the last few guests.

Tony had been really impressed by Sandy's performance, even though he'd only, like, had her suck him off. Maddie was pretty polite about that, and also interested in what was going on his firm, with C.J., and the senior partners and all, and one of the businessmen wanted to find out about Maddie's toy suppliers, and she had a super long answer to that. Then it was just her, and Vadim and Natalia.

While she'd been talking to Louis, Maddie had positioned Sandy so that she was facing away from Maddie, with her face on the floor, and her ass up in the air, and she was idly kicking Sandy in the pussy. Not really hard, just sort of hard enough that Sandy would give a little jump and gasp each time Maddie would kick the shock dildo that was still inside of Sandy.

"She is very lovely," said Vadim. "Was this what you wanted to talk with us about?"

"I'm afraid not," said Maddie. "I'd . . . well, it's not as though I'd have to start from the beginning. But she is basically ready--she's been trained the way I want her trained. There are one or two more adjustments I have to make, but beyond that, it's just a matter of improving her attitude. And the customer I have in mind has been adjusted . . .anyway. Even if I didn't have a customer for Eight, I'd still have to do a lot of work to make her into what you want. It's just that, while I do understand your objections, did you have a chance to notice the photographer?"

Natalia chuckled. "She was hard to miss, but I feel that Vadim had more attention to the young man from the internet. So full of rage! He would be lovely, broken down, would he not?"

"He might be," said Maddie. "But it's not really my sort of project."

"No," said Vadim. "But that photographer certainly is."

"That's my point!" Maddie pulled the trigger that lit up the thing in Sandy's cunt. And it hurt, and all of her muscles were strained, but Maddie was talking so she had to be quiet; Sandy writhed quietly, just giving a little gasp when Maddie kicked her pussy.

"A. She's gorgeous, but doesn't think she's pretty, so she's not vain about it. 2. She's been sort of flitting around the edge of this stuff, but is really guilty about it--you should watch the way she fucks Sandy--it's like she's about to cry as soon as she comes. So she's ready to start now; if I delay, she's going to find some other way of getting the kink she needs from other people, and I don't know if I'll be able to start the process with her after that, and finally--"

"Finally?" said Natalia. "Not gamma?"

"Finally," said Maddie firmly, with another kick at Sandy. "Here; look at these."

She passed a tablet to Vadim and Natalia. Vadim started swiping through something. "They're good," he said.

"Good." Maddie snorted. "They're great, and you know it. And not just the porn; she's a really talented photographer."

"So?" asked Vadim.

"So," said Maddie. "One of the great things about this one," and she ran her foot along the length of Sandy's pussy, making her shiver, "is how smart she used to be. There's so much going through that head, and it's going to stay there--she doesn't talk, and doesn't write, and just does as she's told. You want a girl who's going to be blindfolded most of the time. I mean. Who wouldn't want to start with someone with that sort of vision?"

"Yes," said Natalia. "No, that is a good point. But there is the skin."

"There is," said Maddie. "If the implantation works, though, that'd be even better; it would be a child that came from her, which clearly isn't hers. That would be great, you know?"

"It would," said Vadim. "But if it does not take, this one would not be . . ." He shook his head. "I do not wish to invest in two of these, not in short sequence."

"There are plenty of people who'd be happy to take her off your hands, if it doesn't work out," said Maddie. "You could probably turn a profit, honestly, given how little I charge."

"How little!" said Natalia.

"For the work she does, that is accurate," said Vadim. "However, the fact remains that the facts of my previous acquisition, or, indeed, a subsequent acquisition are unlikely to be made public. If I become a dealer in this field, rather than a consumer, those odds will rise considerably. And I have a comfortable position in life, and do not wish to lose tenure over matters such as these."

"Oh," said Maddie, sounding crestfallen. "Well, I have promised to take care of your needs next, and will keep looking, but--"

"But she is a lovely girl," said Natalia, who was still looking at the tablet, and swiping through the pictures. "And you are quite correct; it would be lovely to have her blindfolded for all but a few minutes every week; enough that she does not accept being blind, that she is aware of what she has lost."

"Natka," said Vadim, warningly.

"No, I will not compromise on your behalf, on this issue. We do require a fair-skinned girl, in case she has to provide some of the genetic material for our children. But I believe that Maddie is regretting her committing to serve our needs before our own."

"Oh?"

Maddie gave Sandy another kick. "A little," she said. "It would be nice to get our staff ready, for when we get married. It's not hard to find a guy to be a fuck-pig--there are a ton of male masochists out there, and there's a sort of bullshit they'll do, where they're confident that they can control what a dom is going to do. So I just have to pick one, and let him think that he's in charge until he isn't. But girls like Rania don't come around that often."

"But as I understood it, you are hoping to have a woman as a . . . that you do not intend for her to be primarily used for sex work?" said Vadim.

"True," said Maddie. "We're going to be keeping her pretty well locked. But that doesn't mean I want an ugly girl."

"It is much like the photography," said Natalia. "It will be better if she is greatly sexual, and then not permitted stimulation or orgasm. And just on the basis of what you have said, and what I have seen, she seems as sexual a beast as one might hope. No; I shall insist on this. Work on her, for yourself, and then turn your attention to finding us a suitable girl for our purposes."

"Are you sure?" asked Maddie. "It'll be like, two, three years before I'd be comfortable taking on another girl, and that's--"

"That will be reflected in our discount, I'm certain," said Vadim.

Maddie laughed. "Maybe. We'll talk about price once we find someone for me to work on, and I see what the fun to pain in the neck ratio is going to be."

"Speaking of pain," said Vadim. "May I?"

"Of course," said Maddie, and passed something over to him.

Sandy tensed, but that didn't help, the thing in her cunt lit up, and stayed lit; she collapsed, trying to crawl away from herself, not even thinking, not noticing how Maddie had cuffed Sandy's ankle to her chair, so she was just pulling at the polished wood of the floor.

"Remarkable," said Vadim. "If your current buyer falls through--"

"Absolutely," said Maddie. "No question."

I cannot see why anyone would wish her attitude changed; it is so utterly despairing."

"That's not what the buyer is looking for," said Maddie. "First step was getting her to endure, which she is; the next challenge is. . . well, not enjoy, precisely. Wouldn't be much fun in that. But I want her to need this sort of thing; to get antsy and depressed when she isn't hurt, and incapable of living without it. And once that's done she'll be ready to be shipped."

"I see," said Vadim. He stood, and kicked Sandy in the ribs, sharply. She coughed, cringed. "Well, if the current arrangement falls through, I think that she shall serve."

"Yes," said Natalia. "And best of luck with your Arab girl. Though you must attend to her hair--it is simply tragic. And far too. . ."

'Yeah," said Maddie. "Could be that I'll want to go with electrolysis rather than lasers--that stuff is so thick it's bound to keep coming back."

"Naturally," said Natalia. "And I am sure that Eight's attitude will be appropriate before too long."

"I hope so too," said Maddie. "I'm really looking forward to starting the next project."

She walked them to the door, showed them out. Then she came back, and rubbed Sandy's head. Which felt weird and smooth and wrong.

"So, there are one or two rules that I haven't mentioned," she said. "You'll notice that you haven't got the shock cuffs back. They aren't coming back." She undid the rings in Sandy's crotch, which held the shock egg in place, but she didn't take it out. "Pain is something that you're going to be given, from now on--not something you get for free."

Sandy gave a little nod, and the thing shocked her. "No," said Maddie. "No more talking from you. You listen, and you do what you're told, but you don't respond to conversation. Not even with nods. The only thing you're allowed to do is to kiss someone's feet, if you want them to play with you. A kick in the face means no, and stop trying."

Sandy held still, and Maddie started playing with her cunt, pushing that shock thing in and out. "And you are allowed to orgasm when you can, though I would recommend against it. All this stuff is going to be fun while you're horny, but when you're not--well, could be a little sad and empty. Not saying it has to be, just saying, probably will be."

Another rub on Sandy's head. "Okay, then," she said. "Up on your knees."

Sandy went up to her knees, suddenly, impossibly hopefully. Maddie smiled down at her. "You're lucky that they want you turned on by giving head, or this wouldn't be any fun for you anymore."

But that was what they did want, and Maddie was--it was great. Maddie hurt her, a little, with the shock thing, and with a whip on her back, but she was licking Maddie out, and there wasn't any question that Maddie had enjoyed her product demonstration; she came really hard, pushing Sandy into her as she came, and then there was that . . . well, it wasn't like Sandy had come. But it was really nice to have made Maddie come. And she hurt, and she was tired.

But it wasn't the cage in the closet, or the one in Maddie and C.J's room. Maddie attached a chain to one of the eyebolts, and then attached the other end to Sandy's nose, and left her there, to sleep on the floor.

It was a little uncomfortable, being out in the open like that, and it was a little cold. But she was tired, so she curled up and slept as well as she could.


	13. Chapter 13

Maddie wasn't the only one who'd enjoyed the party. In the middle of the night, C.J. came out of the bedroom, stretched Sandy out on her stomach, put the shock thing back in her cunt, and fucked her ass, hard, and went back to sleep when he was done. It took Sandy a little longer to fall back asleep, but she did, C.J.'s semen drying on her thigh, and the thing sort of oozing out of her cunt, because it hadn't been locked in.

The next morning, it was more or less the way it usually was; Lisa beat Sandy's tits for a while, which were already bruised from the night before, then fucked her with the shock dildo, and went to work. Maddie woke up, gave Sandy a quick but thorough cleaning, and then packed her in the suitcase for C.J. to take over to his aunt's place.

There were maybe more guys there then there had been? Like, Sandy kind of thought that Louis might have had her suck him off, which was nice, and there was definitely someone she didn't recognize; someone a lot bigger than C.J., and C.J. was was like 6'4", and proportional.

Later, Lisa was grumping about it to Maddie, and Sandy found out that those guys were paying. And they were paying Maddie, not her.

"Setting aside the problems with guys picking up some gross bugs between the time they were tested and the time they fuck her," said Lisa, "what about your moral qualms?"

"What about them?" said Maddie. "She's got her income stream, and she's going to have enough in her account to . . . well, enough that I don't feel like she'd be starting out with nothing."

"But it's her ass they're reaming," said Lisa.

"Nope." Maddie clicked her tongue, and Sandy scampered over, licked at Maddie's foot. That wasn't responding to a word, and Maddie would sometimes do that when she wanted Sandy come over. And she didn't kick her, so Sandy kept licking.

"If I got, like, a pony," said Maddie. "And I started charging people for pony rides--"

"You would totally charge people for pony rides," said Lisa. "And maybe poison all the other kids' ponies."

"Those ponies had it coming," said Maddie. "Point is, I don't care if they're putting in things in every hole she has; I own her, and I own her holes, and it's time she started earning her keep around here. Won't be long before you're moving out, and I'll see what I can do about getting Rania to move in. God she's hot."

"What, a girl?" said Lisa. "Thought you were just fucking Sa . . . Eight in order to train her up."

"And because she's around, and better than a vibrator," said Maddie. "But I don't think I'll be fucking Rania. Plugging her, and hooding her, and training her to wash my clothing, and clean my property in general."

Lisa shook her head. "Pity I'm going to miss all that."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "You sure that you can't just get a job in the city?"

"There are not a lot of radiology practices hiring," said Lisa. "No; looking out to hill-billy land, where the Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements are exactly the same, and the cost of living is hella lower."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "But it's going to be a while before you can find a place with the same amenities."

"Sure," said Lisa. "And just checking--you don't want her listening when I tell her to do stuff now?"

Maddie sighed. "I suppose it's up to you," she said. "But I would rather that you used non-verbal cues? Like a snap meaning she should follow at your heel, and maybe touches to tell her where to go?"

"Man," said Lisa. "You do like having a lot of rules."

"Maybe a little," said Maddie. "You complaining about the results?"

Lisa snorted, and then snapped her fingers. Sandy crawled over, and followed her to the bedroom. Where Lisa fucked her good and hard, for like an hour.

The next few weeks were pretty much like that. More guys in that apartment--one or two girls, and also occasionally Rania, who was still sort of fluttery, and still sort of ran out as soon as Sandy was done licking her out. And then Maddie and Lisa and C.J. at night. Not so much Noah or Zack, though Zack still found some time to come over--Lisa was using Sandy more and harder, as she got ready to leave, once she found something full time, wherever that happened to be.

And she was getting meaner. It started with her using a hood that Maddie had picked up, which wasn't exactly Sandy's size, but which fit well enough. "Nothing personal," said Lisa, the first time, before zipping it up. "But while I can appreciate what Maddie was going for, it's a little distracting how bald you are."

Lisa still talked to her, from time to time. Maddie and C.J. didn't, and nobody did at the apartment where she spent her days. But Lisa did, at least when the hood was off. It was when it went on, though, that things got a little more stringent. One time, she'd hooded Sandy, and then tied her up, and then just went to town on one of her feet with a cane. Most of the shots were on her sole, but every so often, she'd hit one of the parts of that leather sock thing where there were spikes, and that hurt like hell.

Sandy had started crying after the first stroke of the cane, but she was blubbering into the hood by the time the first one hit those spikes. Between the lashes, she could hear Lisa's breathing getting heavier, and then when she was done hitting Sandy, she practically ripped the hood off, to get Sandy's face between her thighs.

When she was done, Lisa had to lie still and breathe for a little bit after that, rubbing at Sandy's neck. "That was great," she said, first. And then, "Sorry about that. Kinda forgot there was someone in there. I mean."

Another rub at Sandy's neck. "Whatever. You seem to be having a good time, anyway."

Sandy wasn't allowed to respond to words, but she liked the way the rubbing felt, and how happy Lisa seemed. She rubbed her cheek on Lisa's thigh, and made a contented little noise.

"Yeah," said Lisa. "But anyway; according to your ass, C.J. and Maddie want you for a bit, so off you go."

She went. It was mostly C.J. who wanted her for a bit, but he convinced Maddie to let Sandy lick Maddie's ass while he fucked Sandy. And then it was her nose-ring to a short chain to the eyebolt in C.J. and Maddie's room for the night.

There were still times when she got to sleep in her cage in the closet, like when company was coming over, or something. And there was still the vibrator in the cage, which she'd rub against.

And the thing was, she was allowed to come. But the vibrator would shut down when she pushed at it too hard, or for too long. And then there were a few times when she had come--before Maddie had gotten the vibrator programmed right, or when Lisa had been doing something less stringent than usual, or with that one guy who came to the apartment who liked to lick her out after he'd fucked her pussy, which was kind of weird--and Maddie had been right; it had been kind of terrible.

Before, when she was wearing the Sandy collar, and before that, an orgasm had been a thing that Maddie had wanted her to do, and had been happy when she'd done it, and it had been sort of a reward. And she was able to drift off to sleep afterward, with Maddie's clothing with her, and all that. Now, it usually happened when she was set up so she couldn't fall asleep, and nobody seemed to pay much attention. It actually hurt a little, and then there was a sort of loneliness that she got afterward, even if she was on the floor in Lisa's room. It was like there were questions that she'd forgotten about, and which she didn't want to remember, but which were still echoing in the background.

It wasn't like she had anywhere else to go, or anything else to do--she was done with her family, and she didn't have a job--and even after an orgasm, things were fine, but still. Echoes of wanting stuff she couldn't have anymore, and that was something better avoided.

It was better when she'd get up to the edge, and stay there, panting and eager, but not coming. Some days, at the apartment, she was able to stay like that for hours--there were guys who'd come in during the afternoon to fuck her, which helped. Even when she was alone, she knew that there were the cameras there, that she was leaking come and drool, and that at any moment someone could come in and start using her, so that kept her pretty close.

One weekend, C.J.'s parents were coming over for a visit, and Sandy wasn't sure what that was going to mean. There were times when they had her in the cage for longer than usual. They'd flush her out with a few enemas, and then Lisa would put a catheter in, and she'd have to stay still and quiet until they took her out, however long that would be. And that was really hard, even when there was a water bottle for her to suck on.

But this time, Friday morning, after she sucked C.J. off, and he put her in the suitcase, the car ride was a lot longer than usual. And it wasn't C.J.'s aunt's place, when he took her out; there was an elevator ride, and then it was an apartment that she didn't recognize at all.

"Finally," said Noah, as Sandy was spilled out on the floor.

"Fuck you," said C.J. "That fucking Cross-Bronx expressway. And I've got work I have to be doing."

"Yeah, well," said Noah. "For five hundred--"

"Thanks," said Zack. "We appreciate it."

"Sure," said Noah. "Whatever."

"Maddie'll stop by on Sunday," said C.J. "Make sure she's packed up and ready to go Sunday night."

"Sure," said Zack. He snapped his fingers, and Sandy crawled over, as C.J. headed back down to his car.

"Hey!" said Noah. "It's been like two weeks, and I really need to drain my balls."

Zack shrugged. Sandy kissed his sneaker, and then looked up at him, hoping for instructions. "So fuck her," he said, cupping Sandy's chin, and looking at her. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"She's not allowed to answer," said Noah, behind her. There was the sound of a zipper coming open, and the his cock was against her ass. No lube or anything. Sandy bit her lip as he pushed in, then yelped when he hit the trigger on the shock thing in her cunt.

Noah groaned. "God that feels good," he said, and he started thrusting, hard and fast. "Ugh."

Sandy nuzzled up against Zack's crotch, and then gave him a pleading look. He shook his head, still watching her. "God," said Noah, behind her. "Having something like this ruins dating. No bullshit about boundaries and relationships and ideas about our future, and 'languages of love.' Just whatever you fucking want, when you fucking want it." He thrust hard with that last phrase, and triggered the pain dildo again.

"Sure," said Zack. Then he finally unzipped his jeans, and Sandy started licking, carefully, watching him the whole time, revelling in the feel of it against her tongue, the taste of it. It was hard to keep her balance, the way that Noah was pounding her, but it had been months since she'd been punished for letting one of her teeth touch someone's cock; she was good at what she was doing. She took his length in her mouth, started moving.

Zack leaned back, pushing up as he did so. "Fucking hell," he said, softly.

Noah finished first, pulling out to spurt across her back. "Drink it up," he said, slapping her ass. "That's what you're eating this weekend."

Zack groaned again, and after a little while, he came as well. "Fucking hell," he repeated. "Could you imagine getting someone like her? How would you even do anything else?"

"Eh," said Noah. "I'm done for an hour or two."

"Sure," said Zack, but--"

As Zack zipped up, Noah kicked Sandy in the ribs. "Here's the deal," he said. "I don't give a shit what Maddie wants you to do. You're here now, and you'll do what you're told. And right now, there's a bucket and a rag in the kitchen. Start washing the floor."

"But--" started Zack.

"Unless you want to wash the fucking floor," said Noah. "This is like, basically the first time since I moved in where there's someone else who will be doing chores around here. And I'm not paying five hundred bucks for a weekend so that I can be cleaning shit off my cock three times a day."

"It's a good deal," said Zack, as Sandy made her hesitant way over to the bucket of water. "I mean, C.J. could probably have made that much in the amount of time it took him to drive here."

"Fuck that guy," said Noah. "I have a law degree too, you know."

"A degree from Pace University isn't the same thing as a degree from Yale law," said Zack.

"We passed the same fucking bar exam, didn't we? The least he could've done was get me a goddamn interview with his firm. I've been doing contracts for the City for five years; I have contacts that they could--"

Sandy lost track of their conversation, as she tried to work out what to do with the bucket and the rag. The thing was, it had been months since she'd had to any sort of chores at all--she wasn't even allowed to wash herself. And she still had those spiked socks on, which would keep her from standing, so it wasn't like she could move the bucket anywhere without spilling it.

She dipped the rag in the water, which had some sort of cleaning thing in it, which made it foam a little, and smell sort of sharp. Then she carried it over to a corner of the living room, and got to work on the floor.

It was tile, and it was pretty dirty. So she scrubbed at it, until the rag was dirty, and then she went and rinsed it out, and went back to the same corner. It wasn't easy. She'd been working out on that elliptical with the bars for her feet, and also she'd practiced crawling on the treadmill, which helped, but she was still putting a lot of weight on her knees and shoulders, and then she was pushing down on the rag, which made her shoulders have to work more. And she was crawling back and forth to the bucket, and she wasn't making much progress.

It would've been a lot easier if she'd been allowed to stand, and given a mop. And probably if she'd asked, Noah would've given it to her. He didn't care about what Maddie wanted, he just wanted a clean floor, and so she should've tried to give it to him? Only Maddie did care about what Maddie wanted, and the whole point--the whole point of all of this--was that she didn't want to have to balance what one person wanted against what someone else wanted. She didn't want to have to make choices anymore. She just wanted to be told what to do, and then to do it, and everyone would be happy with her.

This sucked.

But she'd been told what to do. One tile clean, then the next one, then the next one, but each one seemed to take forever, and it wasn't long before her hands were raw, and the water in the bucket was gray, and the rag was completely gray.

After a while, Noah came over, and fucked her ass. And then dunked her head in the bucket. Briefly, so the stuff didn't get in her eyes, but it made her face feel sort of strange and raw afterward. And then Zack got mad at Noah, and then Noah went and kicked Sandy in the face, and went to his room.

When he was gone, Zack shook his head, watching her clean, and went and washed her face off, and changed the water in the bucket. And then he fucked her ass too, which was kind of nice.

The thing was, Noah had kicked her pretty hard, so she was going to have a black eye. Which was the sort of thing that Maddie usually didn't like, but sometimes, she could be okay with that. And Zack seemed to like watching her work, so that was fine, just scrubbing the floor, back and forth, as he sat on the couch and played video games, occasionally changing the water.

"Truth is," he said, after a while, "Noah's going to be a little pissy if you don't wash the dishes. Which'll be hard, seeing as how you can't stand. And Maddie is going to be pissy if we take those socks off."

Sandy was done washing the floor, so she knelt near him, trying to look eager and ready for whatever he wanted. "Well, I guess he'll be pissy if the dishes aren't done, more than if you don't do them. So, come on."

Sandy followed him into the kitchen, where he brought the bucket, and gave her a new rag. "Come and get me when the floor here is clean. Then you'll dry and I'll wash."

That she could do--the floor in the kitchen was a little dirtier than the floor in the living room, but there was less of it, and she'd gotten used to doing the work. So it wasn't too long before she came back to the living room, where Zack was completely lost in his video game.

She hesitated, not sure what to do. Then she kissed his sneaker, looked up at him. No response. So, she moved further up his leg, and he lifted his hands up out of the way, still holding the game controller. She unzipped his jeans, worked them off of his hips, and started sucking on him.

He'd been maybe halfway ready to go, but it wasn't long before he was completely ready to go. It had been a while since they'd been visiting her, and it seemed like he'd been a little lonely. So she did her best, with lips and hands, and her breasts rubbing against the rough fabric on his legs, making little moaning noises. Maddie had taught her how to give good head, and whatever else happened, she'd know how to do that.

But before she was done, Zack groaned, and pushed her away.

"See," he said. "That's what I'm talking about. If I finished again, I'd go take a six hour nap, and then want pizza and more sex. But right now, we've got dishes to do. Kitchen."

She was allowed to follow orders, anyway. She crawled out towards the kitchen as Zack zipped up. And since it was faster for him to walk than it was for Sandy to crawl, he gave her a resounding smack on the ass as he passed her.

It was nice; that would be okay, if that was the sort of person that Maddie was. . . well, she had already sold her? But it was still up to Sandy?

Not worth thinking about. She went to the kitchen, where there was a towel on the floor, and then she wiped the dishes dry after Zack washed them. When she got up on her knees, Sandy could reach the counter, so she'd stack the dishes up there and Zack would put them away. It was nice, actually. There was a sort of satisfaction to getting things cleaned properly, and she'd kind of forgotten about that over the last few months. It was like when she'd started on a manuscript that was illiterate scribble, and left clean copy behind, which was something else she'd sort of forgotten about over the last few months.

Only as far as that went, Amy had been at that party, and she'd know, and even if Sandy decided to change course, that was . . . well, Maddie wouldn't want her to change course, and Amy was in with Maddie, so it wasn't like she'd be able to get back to work in the field without Maddie knowing, and putting a stop to that. But cleaning the dishes was nice; it was almost disappointing when it was done.

Then Zack headed back out to the living room, and started playing with his video game again, and maybe this time she'd be able to suck him off?

Only when she started kissing his sneaker, Noah came out, and just grabbed one of Sandy's ankles, and pulled her across the floor to his room.

She would have followed if he'd told her to, and it wasn't the way that Lisa or C.J. worked, and it wasn't at all the way that Maddie worked. But there was something to it--she was just being hauled along, like a sack--it was faster that way, because she couldn't move too quickly when she was crawling, even after all of those months.

He had her kneel next to his bed, and then he started hitting her ass. With a ruler first, but that broke, and then it was with the little twisty thing from his blinds--that stung like hell, with each stroke, and Sandy was whimpering, and trying to keep position, and hoping that he'd finish. Lisa used a cane sometimes, but this hurt more than that, maybe because it had more edges, and maybe because Noah was stronger than Lisa. Which was an odd thing--Lisa was like, well, she was stronger than Sandy, anyway, in every way, and she seemed like she was stronger than Noah, but--

But that cane thing hurt a lot. And then when he was done, and started fucking her ass, it hurt more, because her ass was aching all over. But Noah seemed to like it, thrusting so hard it kind of rattled her teeth with each push. And then when he'd come, he wasn't exactly finished with her. He had her go on her hands and knees, next to the bed, and started kicking her.

Not hard at first, but it picked up. Not her face, mostly, but her stomach and her thighs and her breasts--he would kick from the side, so it just got the breast, and it hurt.

When he was done with that, he shook his head at her. "Thought I'd fuck you on the bed, but I don't want blood on my sheets. On your back."

Sandy rolled over, and he pulled out the thing from her cunt, and he fucked her there, on the bedroom floor.

It wasn't easy. The tiles were cold and his whole weight was on her. And her breasts ached, and her butt was on fire, and also she had to fight back an orgasm, because it felt good like that, but she knew that if she came, it would all come down on her, everything that had happened. He came in her, faster than she would have thought he could've after finishing in her ass, and then gave her one last kick, put the thing back in her cunt, and got into bed.

"Go out," he said. "Your turn, Zack."

"Thanks," he said, as Sandy wobbled out towards the living room.

"And don't feed her!" said Noah. "Bitch isn't supposed to eat too much, and she doesn't fucking deserve it. Five hundred bucks? For a--"

"It's two-fifty," said Zack, quietly, as the bedroom door shut behind Sandy. "I mean, I paid my half."

Over the last few months, Maddie had been feeding her sort of blander stuff, in addition to sometimes letting her lick the plates clean. So getting a half slice of pizza from Zack's dinner was a bit much--Sandy could feel her stomach twisting with that. But she ate everything that she was given, and then gave Zack the best blowjob she could, with her fingers and breasts and tongue and mouth all pushing against him, soft, and firm, and everything. It seemed to finish him off pretty well, too--he sort of dropped one of the couch cushions on the floor, and staggered off to his room.

It had been . . . Sandy couldn't actually remember the last time she'd slept with a pillow. It felt nice, though; she cuddled against it, and fell asleep.

Sandy woke up at her usual time, but Maddie wasn't there to bathe her, and Zack and Noah didn't have a treadmill, or an elliptical she could use or anything, so after she used the toilet, Sandy wasn't sure what she should do.

She went back to the living room, and closed her eyes, and tried to imagine that she was back in her cage, with C.J. and with Lisa--Lisa'd been having a few more weekends off, so she'd had more time to play with Sandy recently, and. . .

And Noah came out first, and headed to the bathroom. Then he stopped, and grabbed Sandy, and pulled her into the bathroom by one of her ankles.

"Open," he said, and she opened her mouth. And then he pissed on her.

There was a lot, and it tasted really bad. Sandy remembered from when she'd used to read, that it had to do with hydration. The first piss was going to be a lot more concentrated, because people didn't drink in the middle of the night. But it tasted really bad, and there was no way that she could swallow all of it.

He didn't stop, though. When Sandy closed her mouth to swallow, he pissed on her face, and on her breasts, and even when she had her mouth open it was too much--it went pouring down her chest and her thighs, running off of her pussy to puddle on the floor.

When he was done he threw a rag at her face. "Clean it up," he said. "Then start cleaning the bathroom. You can drink from the toilet, if you're thirsty again. But I don't want to see your face until everything in here is clean."

The puddle of piss wasn't bad--she could rinse the rag off in the tub, so that was fine. But there was the toilet, and then the tub, and she couldn't even reach the sink. But she had to, so she sort of pulled herself up, so that most of her weight was on her arm, rather than on the spikes in her socks. Zack came in while she was working, but he didn't pay too much attention. Just pissed in the toilet, then brushed his teeth. And then fucked Sandy's ass. Just like C.J. would, some of the times in the morning, when she was around and he wasn't in a rush to get out.

Even though she'd cleaned out the toilet pretty well, the water there still tasted a little metallic. Sandy was really hungry, so she kept going back to drink more. Noah came in one time when she was doing that, and then he held her head down in the toilet, until she started struggling a bit. Then he let her up for a breath, and then pushed her down again.

Sandy kind of hated it, but at the same time, she was . . . when he dropped the toilet lid on her head, and took the shock thing out of her cunt, it was pretty wet, because she was turned on. When he fucked her like that, with her head in the toilet, his cock in her cunt, she came a little, even though she'd been fighting it back.

It wasn't a big orgasm, but she was still a little bummed out afterwards; she kept scrubbing at the tiles behind the toilet, as best she could, but there was that sense of everything around her, everything she'd done, and hadn't done, and how she wasn't going to be able to change any of it. It hurt, more than a little.

Zack actually gave her a sandwich though, later--tuna on wonderbread, and she ate it fast, so that Noah wouldn't see her eating it, and take it away, or punish her or something.

When she was done, Zack was playing video games, and Noah was gone. So she started sucking him off, which was nice. Then Noah came back with a sort of hood thing.

"Seriously?" asked Zack.

"Seriously," said Noah. "It was cheap, and this way, I won't see my reflection on her head while she's sucking me off."

"Fine," said Zack. "But wait until I'm done, anyway."

"Whatever," said Noah. He did, though, but then Sandy had to spend the rest of the day in that mask. And Noah beat her, and showed Zack how much that was turning Sandy on. So he tried to, only he didn't hit quite as hard. And then it was hard to find people's feet to rub the mask against, so she spent a lot of time sort of crawling around the apartment, and getting kicked when she got in the way.

There wasn't any pillow for her that night, and the next morning, before he pissed in her face, Noah took the mask off. And then dunked her head in the toilet a lot, and towelled her off before he put it back on, because he didn't want to ruin it. And that was all she saw for the rest of the morning. She got fucked three times, twice by Noah, and once by Zack, but she couldn't drink anything because even though there was a mouth hole, dipping her head in the toilet would get the mask wet.

Then Maddie came over, and took it off.

"Seriously?" asked Noah.

"Yeah," said Maddie. "I like to see her face. Get me a beer."

"For five hundred--"

"Shut up about your two hundred and fifty bucks," said Zack, passing Maddie a beer. "She's been fine."

"And she's got a nice little shiner," said Maddie, sitting down with her beer.

"Sorry about--"

"Eh, whatever. It's what she's there for."

"And what are you here for?" asked Noah. "I mean, really."

"Well," said Maddie, "C.J.'s parents were over for the weekend, and 2:30 on Sunday was about as long as I could take without stabbing. So I'm here until they're gone, and then C.J. is going to pick us up."

Sandy had crawled over, and she kissed Maddie's foot. And got kicked in the face. So she went over, and kissed Noah's foot, which got her kicked again. Zack was willing to play with her a little--he had her go up on her knees, and started playing with her nipples, which hardened under his attention.

"So how's the band?" asked Maddie, and Noah started talking about his band. Which had been having troubles, for whatever reason--nothing to do with the fact that they sounded like ass, and got into fights with each other, back when Sandy had still gone to social things like that.

Maddie listened politely for a bit, and then asked if they had a recycling bin or something.

"Sure," said Noah. Then he took the bottle, and threw it at Sandy.

Sandy winced, as it hit her in the side, and clonked onto the floor.

"That was supposed to break, wasn't it?" asked Maddie.

". . . yeah," said Noah. "Whatever. Hey--get that thing out of her, so she can fuck it."

"I'm not sure about her using her cunt like that," said Maddie.

"You were the one who told me not to put stuff up her butt that'd be hard to get out," said Noah.

Zack had taken the thing out of her cunt, so Sandy got the beer bottle, and started to push it in. She was sore there--she was always sore there, and the lip of the bottle sort of hurt, going in.

"There you go," said Zack, patting her cheek, and sitting back down, as Sandy forced it up into herself.

"Nice to see that at least one of you knows how to treat her," said Maddie.

"Thanks," said Zack. "She's a good girl, really."

"Wasn't talking about you," said Maddie. "I mean, you saw whose foot she kissed first, didn't you? Not that either of you are buying, but someone like Eight is much more for Noah than for you."

"We'd be buying if I could get--"

"I know," said Maddie. "A job in a firm like C.J.'s. And Zack would be buying if he'd decided to keep working for that start-up that made it, rather than a bank that lets him show up at 9:30 and leave at 4:30 and never gives him homework."

"It's a good job!" said Zack. "I mean, it pays the bills."

"Sure," said Maddie. "Point is, once she gets that thing up inside her, buckle it in, so it doesn't fall out."

It wasn't going to fit, not the whole thing. No way. Sandy whined a little, as she tried to push the bottle deeper into her cunt. It was far enough in that she was trying to get the widest section into her, but that wasn't going easily, and--

"It would've fit fine if it was going up her butt," said Noah. "That thing can hold onto your pinky, and then take a baseball bat."

"Oh," said Maddie. "You guys have a baseball bat?"

"No, I'm just saying--"

"Too bad; that might be a fun trick. And I'm just saying that if you put a beer bottle up a girl's asshole, it's not going to come back out without medical assistance, and that doesn't come cheap."

It was almost. . . maybe? But it hurt so much, and. . .

Zack knelt next to her, and pushed it in that last little bit. Sandy gasped, tears in her eyes. "Jeez, Samantha," he said. "Well, if it's what you want, who am I to argue?" and he pulled on her piercings, snapping the things in that held her labia together, through the rings that Maddie had put there.

It hurt inside, where it was ramming up against her cervix, and her piercings hurt, where the bottle was trying to push them open, and--

"Quit whining," said Maddie. "The girl I sell to Vadim is going to be pushing out babies until they get one they like. The least you can do is hold a beer bottle for a little bit."

"You're going to find a girl for that creepy Russian dude?" asked Zack.

"More or less," said Maddie. "Thing is, it's going to cost him like three hundred k, and he can pay it. And he knows what to do with his toys, unlike some people."

Zack huffed, and Maddie smiled at him.

"Sorry," she said. "It's just. . . well, C.J. is old money, more or less, and his parents kind of have a bug up their ass about me not being old money." She shook her head. "Didn't mean to take it out on you."

She snapped her fingers, and Sandy scurried over, the bottle straining against her everywhere, every time she moved her legs. She kissed Maddie's foot, and Maddie nodded, pulling her underwear down.

"Whoa," said Zack.

"Shut up," said Noah, intently.

Maddie laughed, as Sandy pushed up between her thighs, started licking at her pussy. "You guys," she said. "I mean, you can fuck her any way you want, but you like it better when she's licking a girl."

"It's. . . I dunno," said Zack. "It's just hot, is all."

"Yeah," said Noah. "I mean--"

"Well, if you want to use her while she's busy," said Maddie, "That's fine with me."

"No," said Noah. "That's . . .uh. I mean, C.J. is--"

Maddie wasn't starting off wet at all, but Sandy knew how to make her happy, and she was doing her best.

"I'll let him know how concerned you were about his honor," said Maddie. "But there's going to be a whole girl between the two of us; that's not exactly cheating."

"Fuck it," said Zack. "It's that or rub one out--I mean, look at how she's wriggling."

"Yeah," said Maddie. "It's not exactly my thing, but it gets the job done, and it's a useful skill for her to have. And leave that beer bottle in; she doesn't seem to like it."

She didn't like it. And while she did like it when Zack knelt behind her, his hands on her hips, there just wasn't that much room inside of her--when he started fucking her ass, his cock was banging against the bottle with every thrust, through a little bit of flesh inside her. It hurt. She moaned into Maddie's pussy, which was starting to react to what she was doing. Or to what was being done to her--Sandy knew what Maddie liked, and Maddie liked it when Sandy was uncomfortable.

Zack finished before Maddie, and as soon as Maddie was done, Noah pulled Sandy over, and had her suck him off.

After that, the bottle still didn't come out, but they were all a little more relaxed. Maddie had a packet of peanuts with her, and after they tied up Sandy's legs, Maddie would throw peanuts on the floor, and Sandy would wriggle after them. It was something to eat, anyway, and everyone seemed to like it--Zack even fucked her again, while she was tied up like that, lying flat on top of her with the other two watching.

In fact, the bottle didn't come out until after C.J. had picked her and Maddie up, and brought them back home; she'd had to keep it in for the whole trip, and it was a long ride back.

"Old Milwaukee?" he said, holding the bottle up, as Maddie put the shock toy back in Sandy's cunt. "Jesus fuck."

"Eh," said Maddie. "They're not so bad. Just a little poor."

"Homeless people aren't that poor," said C.J. "Jesus."

"Yeah, well," said Maddie. "I mean, Noah has more student loans than most homeless people. Also, he's kind of an ass, but Zack is interesting."

"You and that guy," said C.J. "He's barely capable of--"

"He was able to fuck five times in one day," said Maddie. "True, that's after a bit of a drought, but that's still a useful skill. And we'd have someone around to keep him clean. That's his problem, really--he needs to be kept focused, and he needs to be taken care of, because he can't handle it himself."

"Dude," said C.J., "he's seen what you've done to Samantha. He's not going to go for it."

"Wanna bet?"

C.J. was quiet for a little while. "I'm not dumb enough to bet you on anything," he said. "But seriously--he's seen what you've done, and Rania's seen what you've done. They're not going to go for it."

"It makes it a little more challenging," she said. "But when we were doing something to Eight, I swear to God, Zack said 'if it's what you want, who am I to argue?' Also, he called her Samantha. So, you know. He sees what he wants to see. And what he sees is that Samantha is doing things she wants to do. There's stuff he wants to try, maybe, and he's sure that I'm not going to make him do things he doesn't want to do. Guys generally think they're in charge, so it's almost too easy with guys, if they take the first few steps."

They drove quietly for a bit.

"And Rania? She's not stupid, and she's seen what you've done. She's taken pictures!"

"Rania," said Maddie. "Well, Rania is going to be a challenge. But she's really into it. The money is part of why she keeps coming back, but if it was just the money, she'd be gone. It's going to be touch and go, and she's going to need longer breaks than Samantha did. And since there are probably negative associations for some of the things that I've done with Eight, I'll have to use other routines. Could be I'll make a mistake, and lose her, but I don't think that'll happen. She'll be the servant, and Zack will be the pet. You'll see; it'll be great."

"You're pushing this too far," said C.J.

"First you think that I'm showing them too much, and they'll never go along with it. Then you think I'm not being sufficiently upfront with these people. I mean, sure, there are going to be some adjustments. But deep down, it's what they want; Zack wants someone to pay attention to him and take care of him, and Rania wants to be ignored, and beautiful, and useful. People don't know what they want, and they don't take any steps they need to take to get what they want, unless it's given to them. So, yeah, maybe there are compromises here and there, but in the end, I'm the only one who's paying attention to what they actually want, and I'm the only who gives them any of it."

"And that'll convince people to sign up for something that'll leave them--"

"There are details which are elided from the presentations," said Maddie. "It's a fine line to walk, convincing serious buyers that they'll get what they want, and not scaring off Rania. Frankly, people get really irrationally upset about the occasional phone call to toxic relatives or boyfriends that never were going to work out anyway, no matter how much good those nudges do."

"If you didn't want to show off," said C.J., "you could've elided everything."

"Sure," said Maddie. "But then, I know what I want."

"Me too," said C.J. "I want to fuck that Rania."

"Oh, come on!" said Maddie. "You're fucking Eight's mouth and ass. He's got a nice ass too, and a nice mouth. You won't even notice the difference, once we get Nine and Ten trained up properly. Sure, he'll be a boy, technically, but--"

"Pretty sure I'll notice," said C.J. "No, this is the deal--you can have Zack, if you want him, but if we're going to have Rania in our house, I'm going to use her."

"Fine," said Maddie. "Sure. Anyhow; the aversion therapy stuff came on Saturday, so I'm going to want to get started on that as soon as possible--there's a lot of work that has to be done before Eight is ready to go, and I want her out, so she doesn't interfere with Rania and Zack. How do you feel about Grace, for Rania? I know, I'm getting ahead of myself, and yeah, normally, I like to go with something that shares a first letter, but that's Rania's problem--she's gorgeous, but graceless, so it'd be worth--"

"How about you convince her that this is something she wants to do, first?" said C.J. "And you can start with whatever you're going to be doing to Eight tomorrow--I'm really fucking tired after that visit, and that traffic, and--"

"Sorry," said Maddie, and kissed him. "I know that your parents can take a bit out of you."

C.J. shook his head. "They're great, and I love them, but."

"But," said Maddie. "And then there's the Cross-Bronx."

C.J. sighed, deeply. "I've studied international law," he said. "And I'm pretty sure the Cross-Bronx Expressway is a war crime. Those fucking tractor-trailers--"

Maddie put a finger to his lips. "I know. Hold on, just a second. Lemme put her away, and we can go to bed."

She leaned over, and used a short chain to fasten Sandy's nose-ring to one of the living room eyebolts. "Aversion therapy tomorrow, Eight. It'll be fun."

Sandy wasn't at all sure that it was going to be fun. But the fact was, she slept better on Maddie's living room floor than she had at Zack and Noah's, even though she didn't have a pillow. She was used to it, and fastened in place, where she belonged.

The aversion stuff that had come on Saturday was a pair of glasses, with a heavy sort of electric thing on the bridge, which would watch where Sandy's eyes were focused. And Monday, when C.J. left her in his aunt's place, she wasn't blindfolded. The glasses were left on, there were a couple of pads strapped to her thighs, and there was a book on a little table in the living room. There was a table, and her water bowl, And that was it; all the other furniture had been moved to another room.

After Maddie had given Sandy her morning bath and shave, she'd told her that she was allowed to read the book. "It's not great," she said. "And it's something that you're not supposed to be doing. But this will help you learn what you can and can't do."

At first, Sandy avoided it. She'd more or less figured out what was going to happen, and wasn't looking forward to it. But it had been a while since she'd read anything, and it was boring, waiting there in the apartment.

It was that book that Ann had talked about, forever ago, where the guy tracked down the items shown on those antique shows, and wrote up their stories from before and after. It was interesting, and it reminded her of the fun parts of working in publishing, and yeah, those pads would shock the hell out of her when she tried to read it.

The pads, and also the thing in her cunt. So she'd read, and then it would get too much, and she'd have to stop, and drink a little water, and curl up in a corner. But after a little while, she'd go back, and read some more. It was something of a relief when C.J. came in with her blindfold, and her lunch, and let her suck him off. She wanted to read more, but she also didn't. The afternoon was normal, anyway--guys came in, and hurt her, and fucked her, and Sandy was left a dripping, needy mess by the time C.J. packed her back in the suitcase, and took her back home.

It went on like that for a while. Sandy finished that book, and another couple, but she was reading less every day; it hurt too much.

Lisa enjoyed that, anyway. She'd give Sandy things to read, and whip her if she didn't finish them. So she had to read, like, medical textbooks, which weren't interesting, and which hurt just as much as the books that Maddie gave her.

It was sort of a last thing, though. Lisa was flying out most weekends, for interviews, and then she got a job in Wisconsin.

"Where the cost of living is low, and people less likely to try to recruit me to occupy a wildlife refuge than if I took that Idaho job," she explained to Maddie.

"But Wisconsin is nowhere," said Maddie. "I mean, it's not even Chicago. Seriously; what is there to do in Wisconsin?"

"Make money and spend it on cheese," said Lisa. "Also, I believe there are packers of some sort there."

"Packers?"

"Woo, Packers," said Lisa, without any enthusiasm.

"No, but seriously. Why are you moving to the frozen tundra?"

"Student loans," said Lisa. "Other expenses. Just kinda sick of being a grown-up on a kid's income, really."

"Fine!" said Maddie. "Fine. But you'll visit? And you'll be here for the wedding?"

"Once you have a date for a wedding, probably," said Lisa. "Now I've got a week to wrap things up here, and Eight still has a nicely round butt, despite the way you've been starving her--"

"Haven't been starving her," said Maddie. "Just keeping her hungry enough for that to be fun."

"Point is, I have to put things up it, and then hurt her, and then have her lick me out. And then I have to price out movers."

Lisa put things up Sandy's butt every night that week, and she hurt her pretty bad, each time, like she was trying to fit months worth of sex into every hour. It was kind of great, but also exhausting, and a lot of the time Sandy was a little too distractingly bald, so she had her head in a leather bag while Lisa used her.

Then came an extra long session, which left Sandy's throat numb, and her ass aching, and every single joint in pain, from her toes to her fingertips to her jaw; Lisa locked her up in the hall closet when she was done, and when Maddie let her out again, Lisa was gone.

That was. . . well, she couldn't exactly spend her time mooning about Lisa, because there was always other stuff that Maddie wanted her to do. There was her usual service, for the guys during the day, and for Maddie and C.J. at night, and there was the aversion therapy. Even though there were some books that she might have wanted to read left out for her in the apartment, she'd eventually had to stop--it hurt too much, and it wasn't worth it--so Maddie took to having Sandy do that at home.

She'd get out a book--some of Lisa's old textbooks, or, like outdated software guides, or things like that, and she set them up in front of Sandy, and tell her to read. So she did, while the pads shocked her, and Maddie hit her, until Maddie let her stop. After a while, Sandy stopped being able to turn the pages--she just couldn't look at the books. And when that happened, Maddie got simpler and simpler books.

Finally, after Sandy spent three hours trying to see "in the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf," and not quite being able to manage it, no matter how much Maddie hit her, that stopped; it seemed that she'd been trained out of it.

It was probably something that she'd mentioned to Maddie, back when . . . back when things had been different. But Sandy kind of remembered that book; her dad used to read it to her, when she was little. She'd always identified with that caterpillar, and he'd add all sorts of different foods that weren't in the book, which had driven her crazy, because it wasn't how the story was supposed to go. So it was sort of fitting that it was the last one, anyway.

She had always identified with that very hungry caterpillar, and now . . well, maybe she wasn't going to be a caterpillar anymore. Maybe she'd be something else, when it was all done.

She only finished learning not to read after Maddie had taken up with Rania and Zack. After Lisa moved out, Maddie had convinced Rania to move in, just for a few days, while Rania's upstairs neighbor finished his renovations, and there had been a few times when Rania had used her--those fluttery pushes of her hips against Sandy's face, the way she'd go to her room and lock the door when she was done. And Maddie had talked to her about it, a bit. Not, like, being pushy or anything, but eventually she convinced Rania to give it a try, maybe once a week. Just to see things from the other side, to understand why Sandy enjoyed it so much, and maybe feel a little less guilty about it enjoying it as much as she did.

Zack was a lot easier. They talked about it for like ten minutes, and he was in. Once a week, like Rania, with Zack on Mondays and Rania on Wednesdays. And nothing more than the way Maddie had started with Samantha--talking about fantasies, some light pain with the riding crop, and a comfortable nap after they finished.

They'd both seen what happened to Samantha, so they knew too much to get in over their heads; at least, that's what everyone said, so that was good. Only once she'd started in with Rania, Maddie kept Sandy out of sight more of the time, so that Rania wouldn't get spooked. Mostly, it was just on Wednesdays, but then Rania's new landlord got in trouble, because apparently it was an illegal sublet, so she moved in until she could find somewhere else.

So Sandy spent a lot of time in the closet, and a lot of time being used in C.J.'s aunt's place.

Which was cozy, but which was also a little lonely.

Gradually, she started to feel less like Sandy. It wasn't a sudden thing, like it had been when she switched from being Samantha to being Sandy. It was just, more, during those empty times, when she was waiting in the closet, or blindfolded on the floor in C.J.'s aunt's place, that she realized how much she missed having people paying attention to her.

When Maddie, or the people in the apartment, or C.J., or whoever were paying attention to her, she was more and more grateful for the attention that she got. And everyone called her Eight all the time anyway, so it was just . . . eventually, Eight had stopped thinking of herself as Sandy.

Just like last time, Maddie seemed to notice the change, almost as soon as Eight noticed it. She'd stopped with the spiked socks a little while earlier, but after she'd switched over to being Eight, she was allowed to roam the apartment more. She'd gotten better at knowing when people might want to use her, as well, and would crawl over and kiss their feet, just at the right time.

Maddie and C.J. only, though, even though Rania had moved in. "It's just too distracting," said Maddie, "having both types of orgasms. I mean, if you're done with what we've been working on, that's fine, but---"

Rania wasn't quite done with what they'd been working on. Maddie had gotten her a collar, a nice white leather thing, with a name-tag that said . . . something--Eight didn't even try to look--and Maddie was working her over most nights, when Zack wasn't there.

It was kind of fun, when they were both being used. Sometimes Maddie would have Rania between her legs, and C.J. would be using Eight's mouth, and they were close enough almost to touch. And sometimes Maddie would tie them together, and Eight could feel C.J.'s cock moving inside Rania, or Rania would start breathing in time with Eight when Maddie was whipping Eight. The first time, when that was happening, Rania kissed Eight, and her mouth was strangely soft against Eight's, and there was something soft in the way their bodies felt together. It was a little uncomfortable, and then there was a question in Rania's eyes that made Eight feel strange, and not ready to answer.

The next time, they both had gags and blindfolds, so that was easier.

Maddie also used her with Zack, a little. Mostly teasing him--there were times when she wanted Zack kept on edge of a while, and she was busy, so she had Eight do it. And that was kind of fun. Especially after he moved in, and it was one of Rania's jobs to give him a bath every morning, and he started spending a little more time in the pool, and on the treadmill. Zack was . . . . well, it wasn't her place to have opinions about people. But it was nicer when he was cleaner, and a little more fit. And also there was the way he'd moan and wriggle when he was close, and tied up. Not that Eight was comfortable, when that was happening, but it was . . . well, it was a bit like having power, so that was uncomfortable, but it was also just sort of nice.

Only after Zack moved in, Rania and him were doing a lot of the stuff that Eight used to do, in terms of servicing C.J. and Maddie.

There were things that they still used her for--there were the people in C.J.'s aunt’s place every day, for one thing, but most of the time when Eight was home, she was locked away in the closet.

Which was . . . well, they took the shock thing out before they put her in, now, and it was warm and quiet and smelled sort of familiar, in a way that she couldn't quite define, and it was close and comfortable. But it was a little lonely, and she'd spend her time hoping that someone would take her out and hurt her. It was okay when they didn't hurt her--the first time that Zack sucked C.J.'s cock, Eight was sucking on him the whole time, and when he was done, they let him use her for the rest of the night--but it was better when they did hurt her. That was something to feel.

One day, after C.J. brought her back from his aunt's place, Maddie set her up on the coffee table, and gave her a thorough inspection, both in terms of looking at her bruises and her teeth and her feet, and also how she responded to things, like the touch of the riding crop, or an open book.

"It's good enough," said Maddie. "Time for her to go."

C.J. sighed. "I don't get a lot of vacation," he said. "I really don't want to spend it like this."

"I know," said Maddie. "And I really appreciate it. But it's not like I can leave those two alone, and--"

"It'd be like three hours in a plane," said C.J.

"Yeah," said Maddie. "But can you seriously see taking this into an airport at this point?"

"She'd be fine."

"It's been more than a year since she's worn clothing. The TSA people would talk to her, C.J."

C.J. scowled at her. "It's four fucking days in a car," he said.

"Three days," said Maddie. "You can do seven hundred and fifty miles a day. And while there won't be that much fucking on the return leg, you'd be able to take her out for rest stops along the way. And yeah, maybe there are buyers who are closer who'd pay more, but the two of them are made for each other. Little more work on one than on the other, but it's perfect, now, and it wouldn't be in any other configuration."

"Fine," said C.J., who still didn't sound very happy. "Fine. Tomorrow morning, have her cleaned up, and ready to go. And if I get stopped by the cops out in West Bumblefuck, this is--"

"Four days is probably better, if you'll be speeding otherwise," said Maddie. "New jeep, though?"

"It's a really nice jeep," said C.J. "I'm glad you got it for me. But this is a serious pain."

"I know," said Maddie. "But it's also paying for the jeep? And for a chunk of that sailboat that we're getting?"

C.J. snorted, then left with Maddie, leaving Eight shivering on that coffee table, not knowing what she would say, if she was allowed to say things, not knowing what she'd hope for, if she was allowed to hope for things.

After a while, Maddie took Zack back to his room, and let Eight sleep in the closet, one last time. And the next morning, Rania cleaned her, and shaved her, and gave her three enemas, one after the other.

It was the travel suitcase, same as if she was going to C.J.'s aunt's place, but at the same time, it was different. The car sounded different--a little quieter, and they drove forever.

There was a water bottle in the suitcase with her, and even though Eight didn't drink too much, it wasn't long before she had to pee. Only there wasn't any way she could tell C.J. that, and she knew that she'd get in trouble if she made a mess. So she held it in, until C.J. finally pulled over by the side of the road, and let her piss. And then started fucking her, even before she was done.

They were in a forest, or something, and it was super cold. But his cock was warm, inside of her ass, and there was that urgency to the way he kept pumping, hard, like he had before Rania and Zack had moved in. And then it was back in the suitcase for another long time. When he took her out again, it was colder, and he didn't want to use her--just let her pee, and then shoved her back into the suitcase.

Finally, they stopped for the night. C.J. took her out of the car, and carried her up to a motel room in the travel suitcase. Then, after she'd pissed in the tub, he tied her up in the closet--hands behind her back, and her nose ring to her ankles, so she had to curl up.

"Yeah," he said, on the phone. "Kind of a shit-hole. But more'n halfway there."

There was a long pause, and "Yeah, she's fine," said C.J. "She had water anyway. I'll have her suck me off after I get dinner, when I'm watching porn. No, not that gay porn you want me to watch. Not even then. No, I'm not going to shave her fucking head tomorrow morning; I'm doing delivery, not maintenance. Yeah, okay. She can have the leftovers. Look, it'll be fine."

Another long pause. "Love you too," said C.J. "Could be I'll see you tomorrow, depending on what time I get out. And yes you damn well better let me use Grace's mouth; I'll be fucking beat by that point. Yeah, okay. See you then."

Then that was it. Lights out as he went to get some dinner.

It was . . . well, it was a place between, like Sandy had been. But it was more comfortable than that. There wasn't anything in the closet, so it wasn't even that cramped, but it was dark, and close, and it wasn't too cold, and there was a carpet on the bottom of the closet, so it was fine. And it would be fine, wherever he wound up taking her. There'd be someone there who'd paid enough for her to cover a new car and part of a sailboat, so they wanted her, and they'd probably pay attention to her. It'd be fine.

It was also fine when C.J. came back, and let her suck on him while he watched porn on his laptop. She couldn't see the laptop, so she wasn't sure, but both of the voices seemed pretty girlish, so Maddie probably hadn't quite convinced him to watch gay porn when he wanted to get off. But Eight was happy to be useful. And she was pretty hungry, so she worked out as much of his come as she could. And then there were pizza crusts and the bones from his wings, so that was fine.

The next morning, they got up way, way too early, and it was back into the travel suitcase, and then back into the trunk of the car. Unfortunately, she hadn't been taken to the bathroom in the morning, and also it had been really dry in the hotel room, so Eight drank the bottle of water that had been left with her in the suitcase.

Only it seemed that C.J. wasn't planning on taking any more rest stops. Just driving, straight, the sound of the road, and the car's engine, and a little bit of droning from the speakers, where C.J. was listening to a deposition or something, not loud enough for Eight to hear it, but loud enough that she knew it was on, that C.J. was getting work done for his normal person job, while Eight was on a ride to be a sex slave. It sort of mattered, but as they drove on, pretty much the only thing that mattered was that Eight really, really had to pee.

When the car stopped, she didn't even care where she was. Except the cold was so intense it was like being hit everywhere at once.

"You look like shit, C.J.," said Lisa.

"Thanks," said C.J., dropping Eight's suitcase on the ground, and opening it up to let her blink in the sunlight.

Lisa? Yes, absolutely Lisa, who was wearing cold-weather jogging stuff, and looking dubiously at her. "She doesn't look much better."

"Yeah, well," said C.J. "You get what you pay for. And now it's like sixteen hours on the road between here and New York, and that's if the traffic doesn't suck, which it will. So, bye."

"Bye," said Lisa, not looking away from Eight. "See you at the wedding."

"Sure," said C.J. "See you around."

The back of the jeep closing behind her, then the car door, and then the jeep pulling out of the driveway.

"No bathroom breaks, huh," said Lisa.

Eight froze, not knowing if she was supposed to answer, or what.

Lisa sighed. "We'll talk about that later. But go ahead."

Eight was still in her suitcase, but she had her instructions, and she peed. It felt good to let it go, but the steam and the smell rose up around her, and despite everything else, she still thought that was a little gross. Lisa kept watching her, not smiling, not frowning. Just watching.

"Fine," she said, when Eight was done. "Come on."

She went back inside, and Eight followed. It was . . . well, it wasn't like Vadim's house or anything. It was just, like, a normal sort of house. The kind of place her mom had, in Indiana. In through the garage, a brief look at a kitchen, with a living room beyond. And then down the stairs into a basement. Semi-finished, with a furnace and some exercise machines, and some closets next to the washing machine.

Lisa wasn't going slow or anything, so Eight had to struggle to keep up, because even with practice, she couldn't crawl as fast she'd used to be able to walk. She didn't see exactly what Lisa had done to get the closet to pivot, but she did see it open up, turning into a door, to another smaller basement. Toilet, doctor's table, closet, elliptical machine. Hose coiled by the wall, drain on the floor. Iron rings set into the walls, and the floor.

"Welcome home," said Lisa.

Eight liked Lisa, and she'd missed her, and was happy that it was Lisa who'd bought her. But she shivered at that, and shivered more when Lisa took a key out of the sweatpants pocket, and unlocked her collar, set it aside.

"Maybe you'll get to be Eight again later," said Lisa. "Not now. Not for a while."

Eight cowered on the floor, not sure what to do, what to expect. "Most of Maddie's rules still apply," said Lisa. "No talking, no standing. Nod or shake your head in response to questions, though. You drink from the toilet, you eat what I feed you, and when you get dirty, or you need to be punished, or I get bored, there's the hose."

Eight shivered again.

"Yeah," said Lisa, and then she looked away. "Sorry. It's just . . . I don't know. I'd like to blame Maddie, but, frankly, I was a bit like that even before I met Maddie. Sort of like with you, you know? A bit like that beforehand, but she did bring it to the surface. So, y'know. Now it's at the surface, and I've got a chance to let it out. And it's hard not to use that chance. It's hard, Samantha. It's hard to get up, and go to work, and do your work, and then go home, knowing it's going to be like that until you retire, at which point, there's just a little bit of a blank space before you die. It's hard to meet people, and to open up to them."

Eight waited, still shivering.

"And that's why I bought myself a basement thing. It may be that at some day we'll try again with collars. Maybe even the Sandy collar, or the Samantha collar, or . . . ."

Lisa shook her head. "Or doesn't matter right now. Because even with a discount, for being Maddie's friend, you cost as much as a house, and I'll be damned if I don't get my money's worth. Whatever else you become--whatever else I let you be, this is who you are at your base; you're the basement thing."

She went over to the closet, took out a canvas bag. "When I'm done washing you off, this goes on. And it stays on until I'm done working off all the tensions and disappointments of my day. And then I take it off, and lock you up, and go be a person again, until I need someone to tear apart. You're a basement thing all day, every day, until that hair is long and matted, and I want something else. If I ever do. Could be that you'll just be here, and that house overhead is going to have my husband and kids, and you'll be. . . you'll be for when that gets too much."

Eight nodded. It was. . . well, it was what she had been preparing to be. It wouldn't be too long before her whole world was the little basement room, the toilet and the treadmill, the table with the straps and the iron loops in the walls and the floor.

Lisa wasn't as quick as Maddie at picking up on what was going through Eight's mind. But she could see that. "Exactly," said Lisa. "And even if there are other collars, this is who you'll be when you don't have any collar on at all. Now, shall we begin?"

That was a question, but it wasn't something that the basement thing was expected to answer. She waited, on her hands and knees, for the blast of cold water from the hose, and then for whatever her owner wanted to do with her. It was who she was, and it was what she was for.


End file.
